Twenty-one years' work in the Holy Land : (a record and a summary), June 22, 1865 - June 22, 1886

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TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK

IN THE

HOLY LAND:

(A RECORD AND A SUMMARY)
JUNE 22, 1865— JUNE 22, 1886.

Published for the Committee of the Palestine Exploratioii Fund.

FIFTH THOUSAND.

Eoniron

ALEXANDER P. WATT,
2, Paternoster Square.

1889.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

LONDON :

HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO IIER MAJESTY,

ST. iMARTIN's LANE.

PREFACE.

This little work is designed to answer a question
often put, — why the Society has no resume of its work
for popular use ? This volume endeavours to give
such a resume ; it points out in general terms the
Biblical gains resulting from the work of the Society ;
and it shows, also in general terms, what remains to
be done.

The detailed answer to the inquiry as to the actual
results of our work is to be found in the great work
called the '* Survey of Western Palestine," and in the
maps published by the Society.

The present moment has been chosen for the
appearance of this book, because this day is the
twenty-first anniversary of the Foundation of the
Society.

W. B.

June 22, 1886,

1, Adam Street, Adelpiii.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Dome of the Rock Frontispiece

Cromlech in Galilee... ... 22

Base of Column ... ... 38

Plan of Church ... ... 39

Columbaria, near Beit J ibrin 40

Tell Hum 41

Niche at Banias ... ... 41

Plan of Synagogue ... ... 41

Ornamental Work from Ne-

bratein and Kerazeh 42, 43

Church on Mount Gerizim ... 46

Synagogue at Kefr Birim ... 47

E.xcavalions at Jerusalem ... 48
Plan showing the various

theories of the Walls of

Jerusalem ... .., ... 49

Jewish Lamp... ... ... 54

Characters on the Foundation

Stones ... ... ... 5^

Inscribed Jar Handles ... 57

Gallery near " E " Wall ... 58
Capitals supporting the Dome

of the Rock 60

Lamps found in the E.xcava-

tions ... ... ... 61

View of the jerafeh Valley ... 65

Kadesh Barnc. ... ... 67

Haifa 78

Cromlech in Galilee 79

Tomb at Teiasir 83

Crusading Castle ... ... 88

Rock Altar 90

'Ain Jidy 92

Mar Saba 94

vSea of Galilee ... ... 98

Beersheba ... ... .•■ 103

Gilgal 107

Tomb of Phinehas ... ... 108

Tomb of Eleazar ... ... 109

Ed Dhaheriyeh ... 1 12

Mount Tabor 113

Rock Rimmon ... ... 117

Colonnade at Samaria ... 123

Gath? 126

Tomb of Simon the Just ... 130

El Medyeh 131

Diagram of Eastern Triangu-

lation 137

Cromlech, near Heshbon ... 138

View in Wady in Arabeh ... 140

Lake of Honis ... ... 155

Tomb of Nicodemus ... 157

Inscription ... ... ... 167

Head of Hadrian 171

Gaza Statue ... ... ... 172

The Stone of Bethphage ... 177

Sassanian Building at Amman 179

Plan and Section of ditto ... 179

Rude Stone Monuments 184, 185

Tomb near Jeremiah's Grotto 187

Plan of ditto, ditto 1S9

Jacob's Well 195, 196

Va.se 198

Excavations ... ... ... 204

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER PAGE

PREFACE 3

I, THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY - - - - 7
II. THE CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY - - - - 22

III. THE FIRST EXPEDITION 38

IV. THE EXCAVATIONS AT JERUSALEM - - - - 48

V. THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS ----- 64

VI. THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE - • - 73

VII. THE ARCH.^OLOGICAL EXPEDITION . - - - 128 _

VIII. THE SURVEY OF EASTERX PALESTINE - - - 133

IX. THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I40

X. SMALLER EXPEDITIONS - - - - 1 50

XI. THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY - - - 157

XII. OKITUARY - - - 201

XIII. THE WORK OF THE FUTURE 2O4

APPENDICES.

I. CHRONOLOGICAL SUM.NLVRV OK THE FUND's WORK - 21,5

II. CAPTAIN CONDEr's IDE.NTIlTCATiONS - - - 221

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE.

This great Work embodies the whole of the researches conducted
by the Society. It consists of —

1. The GREAT MAP of Western Palestine. In 26 sheets, on

the scale of one inch to the mile.

2. The MEMOIRS arranged according to sheets. By Major

Conder, D.C.L., and Lieut. -Col. Kitchener, R.E. In 3 vols.

3. The NAME LI.STS, containing 10,000 names collected during

the Survey. Transliterated and translated by Professor
Palmer.

4. The FAUNA and FLORA of Palestine. By the Rev. Canon

Tristram.

5. SPECIAL PAPERS on Various Points of Sacred Archeology.

By Col. Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S.,
Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., Major
Conder, D.C. L., R.E., M. Clermont Ganneau, and others.

6. JERUSALEM. With a portfolio of 60 plates. By Col. Sir

Charles Warren and }tIajor Conder. Contains an account
of all the researches which have been made in the Holy
Land up to the year 1884.

7. THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF WESTERN PALES-

TINE. By Edwanl Hull, F.R.S.

These volumes are illustrated by many hundreds of drawings,
photographs, maps, and plans, chiefly drawn by Major Conder and
Lieut. -Col. Kitchener. No expense has been spared to make the
work complete and worthy of its subject. No more important con-
tribution to Sacred Geography and Archeology has ever been made.
Only 500 copies were printed, of which some copies remain, and
are sold for the Committee by their agent, Alexander P. Watt,
Publisher and Literary Agent, 34, Paternoster Row.

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

'c«C(*^i

CHAPTER I.

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY.

H E Society-
known as the
Palestine Explo-
ration Fund was
first formally
constituted at a
public meeting
held in Willis's
Rooms on Fri-
day, June 22nd,
1S65, the Arch-
bishop of York
being in the
chair.

The objects
and intentions

of the founders were the prosecution of s)-stematic

8 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' IVOA'A'.

and scientific research in all the branches of inquiry
connected with the Holy Land, and the principal
reason alleged for conducting this inquiry was the
illustration of the Bible which might be expected to
follow such an investigation. In the following pages
the reader will learn briefly how far the Society has
been successful.

In his opening address, the Archbishop laid dow^n
certain principles on which, he said, the work of the
society should be based. It is, in fact, in recognition
of these principles that the work has always been
carried on. These were : —

1. That whatever was undertaken should be carried

out on scientific principles.

2. That the Society should, as a body, abstain from

controversy.

3. That it should not be started, nor should it be

conducted, as a religious society.
The object of the first law was to ensure that the
results of inquiry and exploration, whatever they
might prove, should command from the world the
same acceptance as a new fact reported from a
physical laboratory, and that the work should be
faced in the same spirit of fearless investigation into
the truth as obtains in scientific research. The con-
duct of the principal part of the work by officers of
the Ro)-al l'2ngineers has effectually ensured this
object. No dispute has ever arisen, nor will an)

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY.

question ever arise, concerning the statements or
reports furnished b}' the Society's agents. Those who
remember the bickerings which formerly prevailed
over every estimate as to measurements, heights,
distances, and positions, as one book of Syrian travel
followed another, will recognise the enormous advan-
tage of having these points ascertained and laid
down for us once for all by men whose official position
and professional reputation, as well as the methods
of research which they adopted, place their reports
beyond question.

As regards the second point, it was at first intended
that the Committee should place on record nothing
but the bare facts discovered. Wilson's Report of
1866, and Warren's Letters of 1867-70, contain, in fact,
very little indeed beyond the barest facts. But it was
presently found impossible, and, indeed, undesirable,
to keep out of the Society's publications the element
of personal opinion. Warren recorded, for instance,
after his return, in addition to the official report of
his excavations, the conclusions which he had come
to and their bearing upon the problems. Conder,
in his reports written in the field during the Surve}',
set down from the very first, and unreservedly, his
own conclusions as to identifications and topography.
The subscribers to the Socict}', it was then discovered.
desired nothing more than the publication of such
arguments and sucii conclusions. Tlicy were found

lo TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

to give life to the bare facts of the survey. These,
and other dissertations, views and suggestions, made
the pages of the Society's Journal full of interest.
But for them the Quarterly Statement would have
been no more interesting than a volume of name
lists, and the Committee would have lost their most
powerful means of keeping up and extending the
interest in their work. At the same time, these
arguments and conclusions have always been pub-
lished with reserve. They are not advanced as the
opinions of the Committee, which, as a Committee,
has no opinion, but are signed by their author, and
he alone, as is stated in every number, is responsible
for them.

The third principle secured the independence of
the Association in preventing it from being attached
to any religious body, church, or creed. As then con-
stituted, and as it now exists, it simply invites support
from all those persons who happen to be interested in
a certain collection of books, apart from any doctrines
which may have been deduced from those books, or
any opinion as to the weight of those books, and
apart from the fact that to very many these are, and
always will be, the most precious books in the world.
The Society numbers among its supporters Christians
and Jews — Christians, that is, of every church, Protes-
tants and Catholics, Anglicans, Greeks and Romans,
Nonconformists and Unitarians. No questions of

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. n

doctrine will be found treated in the Society's publi-
cations, nor any of ecclesiastical discipline and
authority, nor any which concern the genuineness
and authenticity of the books concerned.

At the outset of this record it is the special duty
of the Committee to express, firstly, their profound
gratitude to the War Office for granting the services
of Royal Engineers for the execution of the work, and
secondly, their sense of the surprising good fortune
which has attended them in the personal character and
the remarkable abilities of the officers who have worked
for them. Among the many distinguished officers
who at present adorn the scientific branch of the
Service there are none more distinguished than Sir
Charles Wilson and Sir Charles Warren. There was
no officer of the corps more highly esteemed than
the late Major Anderson. As for Captain Conder, he
will be regarded as nothing short of a personal friend
by everyone who reads these pages ; he has been for
fifteen long years the chief prop and mainstay of
the Society ; he is par excellence the Surveyor of the
Holy Land. The military record of Lieutenant-
Colonel Kitchener promises to eclipse his civil dis-
tinction. But it must never be forgotten that before
he went to Egypt he surveyed Galilee for this Society
and Cyprus for the Colonial Office.

At the first meeting some hopes were put forward
by the speakers which have been realised beyond

12 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' IVORK.

expectation, and some which have been so far dis-
appointed. After this lapse of time it is interesting
to recall what was said and what was thought on that
occasion. For instance, it was then confidently ex-
pected by ever^'body that a few excavation^ in
Jerusalem would quickly decide the whole of the
vexed questions as to the holy sites. Sir Austin
Layard, fresh from the excavations which enabled
the world to reconstruct the history of a long-lost
people, spoke hopefully of the light which might
be thrown upon the ancient history, the arts, and
the architecture of the Jewish nation by examining
the mounds which were already known to exist in
the country, and by excavating on the sites of the
ancient cities. Our excavations since that time in Jeru-
salem and elsewhere have yielded a very small amount
of information on Jewish art, though something on
Jewish architecture, and, as yet, there have been no
excavations at all of the mounds, high places, and
ancient sites, outside Jerusalem, with the exception
of the mounds at Jericho ; that is a work which we
hope to take in hand when we have accomplished
what we have already commenced. The Count de
Vogiie, at the same meeting, v.cnt so far, in his zeal
for excavation, as to say that nothing then remained
above ground in Palestine to be discovered. Yet since
that day the Moabite Stone, the Phoenician inscription
in the Pool of Siloam, the stone of Herod's Temple,

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. 13

the head of Hadrian's Statue, the Stone of Bethphage,
the Stone of Zoheleth (i Kings i. 9), the boundary
inscriptions of Gezer (Joshua xvi. 3-10, &c.), the
Sassanian monument at Amman, the Palace of
Mashita, many ancient synagogues, and hundreds of
ruined towns, all above ground, have been discovered.
Sir Roderick Murchison advocated a geological and
geographical survey of the country, — we have since
executed both of these Surveys, with results of far
greater importance than he expected. Mr. Palgrave
dwelt upon the ethnological side and the importance
of noting the points of distinction among the people
now inheriting the country. " The Land," he said, " is
a land of petrifactions, where remains which might
elsewhere have perished or become wholly decom-
posed still remain intact and preserve their distinctive
lineaments." The Dean of Westminster took a
similar line in recommending a careful study of the
manners and customs of the people. We have done
something towards this in publishing the papers
of Mrs. Finn and Mr. Klein, while our officers have,
in the course of the Survey, made many valuable
observations on the subject. But we are now
embarked upon an enterprise in this direction on a
far greater scale than that cortemplated by
Dean Stanley. The spirit of research has, since
his speech on that day, become more scientific.
Such an inquiry as that then contemplated would have

14 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

been neither scientific nor complete. It can now,
thanks to the hibours of the Anthropological Society,
be both scientific and complete. As will be seen
presently, we hope to make this inquiry in a more
systematic manner than was then contemplated, and
over a far wider area. Lastly, Prof Owen and Canon
Tristram spoke of the natural history of the country
and of the many gaps which then existed in our know-
ledge. Thanks mainly to the exertions of the latter
gentleman we have been able to fill up many of those
gaps.

The meeting was followed by an appeal for funds,
letters v/ere inserted in the papers, and the other
usual methods were adopted to obtain publicity,
Mr. George Grove, the foremost among the original
founders of the Society, being its first honorary secre-
tary and spokesman.

The first Committee consisted of the following

gentlemen : —

Archbishop of York. Samuel Gurney, M.P.

Duke of Argyll. R. Culling Hanbury, M.P.

Duke of Devonshire. A. H. Layard, M.P.

Earl of Derby. Walter Morrison, M.P.

Earl Russell. John Abel Smith, M.P.

Earl of Shaftesbury. William Tite, M.P.

Pjishop of London. Dean of St. Paul's.

Bishop of Oxford. Dean of Westminster.

Bishop of Ely. Dean of Christ Church.

The Speaker. Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B.
Sir S. Morton Peto, Bart. Sir Roderick Murchison, K.C.B.

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY.

IS

Prof. Owen, F.R S.
Rev. Prof. Pusey, D.D.
Canon Ernest Hawkins.
Rev. E. H. Plumptre.
Rev. A. W. Thorold.
Rev. H. P Tristram, F.R.S.
Rev. George Williams.
Rev. S. Martin.
Rev. N. Macleod, D.D.
Dr. Joseph Hooker.
Dr. William Smith.
W. Hepworth Dixon.

J. Fergusson, F.R.S.

F. Waymouth Gibb C.B.
Ambrose de Lisle.
Samuel Morley.

John Murray.
Antonio Panizzi.
Henry Reeve.

G. Gilbert Scott.

William Spottiswoode, F.R.S.

William Tipping.

W. S. W. Vaux, F.R.S.

Mr. George Grove {^Hon. Sec.)

Mr. John Abel Smith, M.P., and Mr. Robert
Culling Hanbury were the first treasurers ; they
were subsequently succeeded by Mr. Walter Morrison.
The hon. secretary was afterwards joined by the
Rev. F. W. Holland, and a sub-committee consisting
of the Archbishop of York, the Dean of Westminster,
and Prof. Owen was appointed to draw up a state-
ment of the general objects of the Association.
When this statement was produced, in October, 1865,
the Committee of 45 had been swollen to the number
of 79, and then contained, in addition to the first
published list, such names as Lord Strangford, Lord
Stratford do Redclifife, Lord Carnarvon, Sir Moses
Montefiore, Dean Howson, Dr. Temple, Dr. Vaughan,
Dr. Allon, Dr. Porter, Prof Rawlinson, Mr. Beresford
Hope, Mr. Macgregor, and many others of like weight
and note.

1 6 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

The Original Prospectus, when it left the hands of
the sub-committee, was as follows : —

No country should be of so much interest to us as that in
which the documents of our Faith were written, and the
momentous events they describe enacted. At the same time
no country more urgently requires illustration. The face
of the landscape, the climate, the productions, the manners,
dress, and modes of life of its inhabitants, differ in so many
material respects from those of the western world, that
without an accurate knowledge of them it is not too much
to say that the outward Ibrm and complexion of the events
and much of the significance of the records must reiuain more
or less obscure. Even to a casual traveller in the Holy
Land the Bible becomes, in its form, and therefore to some
extent in its substance, a new book. Many an allusion
which hitherto had no meaning, or had lain unnoticed,
starts into prominence and throws a light over a whole
passage. It is not to be expected that the modes of life
and manners of tlie ancient Israelites will be revealed by
any discovery of monuments in the same fulness that those
of the Egyptians and Assyrians have been. But still, infor-
mation of value cannot fail to be obtained in the process.
Much would be gained by obtaining an accurate map of the
country ; by settling disputed points of to])Ography ; by
identifying ancient towns of Holy Writ with the modern
villages which are their successors ; by bringing to light the
remains of so many races and generations which must lie
concealed under the accumulation of rubbish and ruins on
which those villages stand ; by ascertaining the course of
the ancient roads ; by the discovery of coins, inscriptions,
and other relics — in short, by doing at leisure and system-
atically that which has hitherto been entirely neglected,
or done only in a fragmentary manner by the occasional

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. 17

unassisted efforts of hurried and inexperienced travellers.
Who can doubt that if the same intelligence, zeal, know-
ledge, and outlay were applied to the exploration of Pales-
tine that have recently been brought to bear on Halicar-
nassus, Carthage, Cyrene — places without a single sacred
association and with little bearing on the Bible — the result
would be a great accession to our knowledge of the
successive inhabitants of Syria — Canaanite, Israelite,
Roman ?

Hitherto the opportunity for such systematic research has
been wanting. It appears now to have arrived. The visit
of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to the Mosque at Hebron
has broken down the bar which for centuries obstructed
the entrance of Christians to that most venerable of the
sanctuaries of Palestine ; and may be said to have thrown
open the whole of Syria to Christian research.

The survey of Jerusalem at present in progress under the
direction of Captain Wilson, R.E. (a survey supported by
the private liberality of a single person ; as it proved, the
grant of 500/. made by the generous person referred to,
was unequal to the work, which was only accomplished
by the generosity of Captain Wilson, who gave his whole
time and labour for nothing), has shown how much may
be done with tact, temper, and opportunity, without
arousing the opposition of the authorities or inhabitants.
Recent letters of Sir H. James and others in the Times
have borne testimony to the remarkable fitness of Captain
Wilson for such undertakings, and have pointed out
other places where explorations might be advantageously
carried on.

// is therefore proposed to raise a fund to be applied to
the purposes of investigating the Holy Land by employing
competent persons to examine the following points:

I. ARCHy^iOLOGY — Jerusalem alone would furnish an ample

B

i8 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

field in this department. What is above ground will be
accurately known when the present survey is completed ;
but below the surface hardly anything has yet been dis-
covered. The Tombs of the Kings on Mount Zion— the
course of the Tyropoeon Valley— the real extent of the
Temple enclosure — the site of the Tower of Antonia — of
the Palace of Herod— of Ophel — of the Pool of Bethesda —
the position of the tcwers of Hippicus and Psephinus — the
spring and conduit of Hezekiah — are all awaiting excava-
tion ; and it is not too much to anticipate that every foot in
depth of the " sixty feet of rubbish " on which the city
stands, will yield interesting and important materials for the
Archaeologist or the Numismatist.

Beyond the Holy City the country is full of sites which
cannot fail amply to repay examination. Of these a few
only may be enumerated : — Mount Gerizim, possibly the
Moriah of Abraham's sacrifice, certainly the Holy Place of
the Samaritans, containing the stones which they allege to
have been brought up by Israel from the bed of the Jordan
— the Valley of Shechem, the earliest setdement of Jacob
in the Holy Land, with his Well and the Tomb of Joseph —
Samaria, with the traditional tombs of John the Baptist and
others, and with the extensive remains of Herod's edifices —
the splendid Roman cities along the coast, Caesarea of
Herod and St. Paul — Antipatris — the once renowned
harbours of Janmia and Gaza — the mounds and other
remains of Jiljilich, probably the Gilgal which contained the
Great College of Prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha
— the Fottre£-.s and Palace of Herod at Jebel Fureidis— the
Tombs (probably those of Joshua) at Tibneh — the mounds
at Jericho — the numerous remains in the Valley of the
Jordan — Bethshean, one of the most ancient cities of
Palestine, with remarkable remains of Roman, and probably
still earlier, date — Jezreel, the capital of Ahab and Jezebel

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. 19

— the Assyrian mound, called Tel es Salahiyeh, near
Damascus, ci:c., &c.

2. Manners and Customs. — A work is urgently required
which shall do for the Holy Land what Mr. Lane's
" Modern Egyptians " has done for Egypt — describe m a
systematic and exhaustive order with clear and exact
minuteness the manners, habits, rites, and language of the
present inhabitants, with engravings intended like his " not
to embellish the pages, but to explain the text." Many of
the ancient and peculiar customs of Palestine are fast
vanishing before the increasing tide of Western manners,
and in a short time the exact meaning of many things which
find their correspondences in the Bible will have perished.
There are frequent references to these things in the books
of travellers, and they have recently formed the subject
of more than one entire work ; but nothing sufificiently
accurate or systematic had been done, it can only be
accomplished by the lengthened residence of a thoroughly
competent pers(jn.

3. Topography. — Of the coast-line of Palestine we
now possess an accurate map in the recently finished
Admiralty Charts. What is wanted is a Survey which when
we advance inland should give the position of the principal
points throughout the country with equal accuracy. If these
were fixed, the intermediate spots and the smaller places
could be filled in with comparative ease and certainty. In
connection with the topography is the accurate ascertain-
ment of the levels of the various points. The elevation of
Jerusalem and the depression of the Dead Sea are already
provided for by the liberality of the Royal Society and the
Royal Geographical Society ;* but the level of the Sea
of Galilee (on which depends our knowledge of the true

* See Sir Henry James's letter to the Times, Jan. 28, 1865.

B 2

20 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

fall of the Jordan) is still uncertain within no less than
300 feet — as are other spots of almost equal moment.

The course of the ancient roads, and their coincidence
witli the modern tracks, lias never been examined with the
attention it deserves, considering its importance in the
investigation of the history.

The principles on which the modern territorial boundaries
are drawn, and the towns and villages allotted between one
district and another, would probably throw light on the
course of boundaries between the tribes and the distribution
of the villages, which form the most puzzling point in the
otherwise clear specifications of the Book of Joshua.

4. Geology. — Of this we are in ignorance of almost every
detail. The valley of the Jordan and basin of the Dead
Sea is geologically one of the most remarkable on the
earth's surface. To use the words of Sir Roderick Mur-
chison, " it is the key to the whole of the geology of the
district." Its Biblical interest is equally great. To name
but one point : the decision of the question whether any
volcanic changes have occurred round the margin of the
lake within the historical period, may throw a new aspect
over the whole narrative of the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah.

5. Natural Sciences — Botany, Zoology. Meteor-
ology. — These are at present but very imperfectly known,
while the recent investigations of Canon Tristram, limited as
they necessarily were, show that researches are likely to
furnish results of no common scientific interest. Naturalist
after naturalist will devote himself for years to the forests of
South America, or the rivers of Africa, why should we
not have some of the same energy and ability applied to the
correct description of tlie lilies and cedars, the lions, eagles,
foxes, and ravens of the Holy Land ?

It will perhaps be said that many of the points above

FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. 21

enumerated have been already examined — that Robinson,
Stanley, Rosen, and others have done much in the depart-
ment of topography — that Hooker, and more recently
Tristram, have reported on the botany — that Roth and
Tristram have brought home shells, fish, birds, and eggs —
that the researches of M. Lartet on the geology of the Dead
Sea, and those of the Due de Luynes, De Vogiie, and De
Saulcy on archaeology, are on the eve of publication. This
is true, but without intending to detract from the usefulness
or the credit of the labours of these eminent men, it is
sufficient to observe that their researches have been partial
and isolated, and their results in too many cases discrepant
with each other. What is now proposed is an exj^edition
composed of thoroughly competent persons in each branch
of research, with perfect command of funds and time,
and with all possible appliances and facilities, who should
produce a report on Palestine which might be accepted by
all parties as a trustworthy and thoroughly satisfactory
document.

It is hoped that an arrangement may be made by which
Captain Wilson will be able to remain for a few months in the
country after he has completed the survey of Jerusalem and
the levelling between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea;
and it will not be difficult to find competent persons to
undertake the other departments named above. The
annual cost of each investigator may be taken roughly at
^800 (including both remuneration and expenses).

Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to
become the Patron of the Association, and to contribute
to its funds.

As will be presently seen the Society has attacked
every one of those four divisions in turn, with the ex-
ception of the second, which is now under consideration.

22

CHAPTER II.

CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY,

Cromlech in Galilee.

In the year 1865-66, the first or preHminary expe-
dition was sent out under Captain Wilson and Lieut.
Anderson, the results of which are detailed in chapter
III. (see p. 38).

In the year 1867, a great stimulus was given to the
Society by the announcement that excavations were
about to be made in Jerusalem, and letters were written
to the Times by Mr. George Grove, which, backed
by one or two leading articles, created for a short
time very great enthusiasm. It must be remembered
that the founders hoped to accomplish all their objects
in a very few years, and by the expenditure of a com-
jjarativcly small sum. With this belief the Committee
contemplated a brief existence and began by asking

CriRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY. 23

for donations, rather than for annual subscriptions,
so that in the first three years the comparatively-
large sum of iJ^8,ooo, which was raised in answer to
their appeals, consisted almost entirely of donations.
The Queen, who became the Patron of the Society,
gave ;^i5o; the University of Oxford ;,^5oo; the
University of Cambridge ;^250 ; the British Asso-
ciation ;^ 1 50 ; the Grand Lodge of Freemasons ;^ 105 ;
the Syria Improvement Committee ^250 — this Com-
mittee subsequently voted other large sums ; the City
of Edinburgh sent up ;^200; Glasgow £\Ap\ Cam-
bridge i^ioo ; and Oxford £,<^0. There were eleven
donors of ;^I00, and a great many others in the first
lists who gave between ^50 and ^100 each. But as
yet there were hardly any annual subscribers. These
had to be created when the need for them arose,
namely, when all the money of the " first sprightly
flow " had been spent.

The time of great donations has never passed away,
and scarcely a year passes but some gift of a very
substantial kind rejoices the Committee ; but the
Society no longer wholly depends upon them. It
possesses now a large body of subscribers who send
every year their half-a-guinea, guinea, two guineas,
and sometimes more, to the Secretary. There are, at
the present moment, about 3,500 of these. There
have been times when there were more and no
doubt the announcement of work recommenced in

24 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Jerusalem, or of Captain Conder's return to the field,
would again, and quickly, run up the numbers. Some
of these subscribers are old friends who have continued
with us from the beginning, always interested in the
work and always looking for the appearance of the
Quarterly Statement ; others drop off year by year
and are replaced by new subscribers ; the general
depression of trade and the bad times have forced
some reluctantly to retire, while others send up their
contributions only when a party is in the field, in a
belief, which it seems impossible to destroy, that when
an expedition has once come home with the note-
books full, no more money is wanted. Some, again,
arc interested more in one branch of inquiry than in
another. Some continually urge the Committee to
resume excavation work in Jerusalem, while others
are eager for the completion of the Survey. It is,
however, to this great body of annual subscribers that
the Committee have chiefly looked for the last eighteen
years for the funds wherewith to prosecute the work,
and it will always be their endeavour and hope to be
constantly enlisting new members, and extending the
area covered by their members. It is certainly better,
in the interests of extended knowledge and of Biblical
research, to have ten annual subscribers of a guinea
each than one donor of ten guineas, and the lecturers
and advocates of the Society no longer ask so much
for special donations as for annual subscribers. At

CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY. 25

the same time, donations are always most acceptable.
The machinery by which the Committee look most
for extension and support is by the help of their local
secretaries, by their lecturers, by their publications,
and by means of the press. The money spent in
advertising is a very small annual item.

To return, however, to the early years.

In the year 1868 it was found absolutely necessary,
although Mr. Grove had been joined in his office as
hon. secretary by the Rev. F. W. Holland as coad-
jutor, to have an office for head-quarters and as a
place where information could be had and the papers
and circulars of the Society seen, and a secretary
who should receive visitors, explain the nature and
results of the work, conduct the correspondence and
carry on the regular daily business of the Society.
Mr, Walter Besant, M.A., was, in July, 1868, appointed
secretary, and has ever since continued to hold the
post.

In March, 1869, it was resolved to give the reports
and letters of the exploring officers a more permanent
shape by issuing them once a quarter, and sending
them round to all subscribers. Before this a few
copies only had been printed, as the letters came
home, and these were sent round to such of the
subscribers — a small selected list — as it was thought
would be interested in them. Many of them, there-
fore, were not aware of what was being done. In this

26 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

way was first established the Quarterly Statement.
It beL,ran with an issue of 500 copies, and the first
number contained, besides Warren's letter and a
resianc of work prepared b}^ the secretary, only a
reprint of two articles, one by Mr. John Macgregor
from the Times, and one b}' Lieut. Warren from the
AtJieiiceiim. This Journal is now the recogniseci
organ for all papers on Palestine research, and
penetrates into all parts of the world where the
Bible is studied. Its circulation naturally varies
with the number of the subscribers. At the present
moment it is less than 3,000, though in some )-ears it
has gone up to as many as 5,000. Considering that
it addresses none but such as are serious students of
the geography, history, and archaeology of Bible
lands, this circulation may be considered very fair.
It has published, among its seventeen volumes,
an invaluable collection of papers on all subjects
connected with the Society's operations. Most of
the important matter up to the year 1882 has been
transferred from its pages to the Memoirs of the
Survey of Western Palestine, yet those who have kept
the early numbers and have a complete collection
may take note that an unbroken set is fast becoming
very valuable. The Journal contains, in addition to
the reports and letters of the officers, a great number
of papers on various subjects, discussions on sites,
notes of journeys and independent research. Nearly

CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY. 27

all these papers have been given to the Committee.
During the seventeen and a-half years of its existence,
the Journal has cost little more than ;^50 altogether
to writers for contributed papers. The whole of the
rest has been contributed voluntarily, and for nothing,
to the Committee.

It is sometimes urged that it is desirable to make
the Quarterly Statement more attractive, and no doubt
larger type and thicker paper would make it look
better, but the postal expense would be doubled or
trebled — a serious consideration when the distribution
is done altogether through the post. As it is, the
postage of their Journal costs the Committee from
£60 to ;^ 1 00 a year. To multiply this cost by three,
which larger type and thicker paper would necessitate,
would oblige them to retrench in the matter of illus-
trations and maps, in which it must be owned that
the periodical has always been most generous and
liberal. Some of the papers published are, it is again
complained, dry. It may be replied, however, that it
is difficult to make meteorological tables and returns,
the hard facts of latitudes, longitudes, aneroid heights,
angles, distances, and contours, what is generally
called light reading. Yet these things, when they
have been ascertained, must be published, otherwise
they might just as well never have been searched for,
and moreover, it must be remembered that they
cease to be dry when they are applied to the objects

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

for which they were investigated. 'Jhus, to take a
single instance, it is doubtless a dry fact, by itself,
to read that Captain Condcr has discovered the long-
lost city, Kadesh of the Hittites. ]^ut the fact is
anything but dry when it is accompanied and
explained by the narrative of the way in which this
fact was arrived at, the history which it illustrates,
the Egyptian campaign in which the city figures, and
the knowledge that it has been rediscovered from
the information conveyed in an Egyptian monument
3,000 years old. Further, it is no longer a mere dry
fact when we consider that this place belonged to a
very remarkable people, the extent of whose country
as well as the site of their sacred city have only
recently been discovered, whose inscriptions, only
recently brought to light, still await decipherment,
and whose story is gradually being wrested from
the records of the past. Our Quarterly Statement
is full of such instances — chiefly contributed by
Captain Conder, who, if he had his note book in one
hand, generally had the Book of Joshua in the other,
and never laid down a newly found name, a newly
discovered ruin, on his map, without inquiring what
connection, if any, it might have with the sacred
narrative. A few of his conclusions, arrived at on the
field, may have been abandoned on more careful in-
vestigation; most of them, however, have held their
ground, and met with general acceptance. Those

CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY. 29

who have for fifteen years followed those voluminous
letters, reports, and papers from him, which sometimes
nearly filled the Quarterly Statement, will remember
not only the brightness and vividness of his style, the
picturesqueness and colour of his descriptions, the
happy touches by which continually the country and
its people seem to stand forth revealed to the readers
who have never visited the land, but also the unex-
pected snatch of some old site out of a pile of names,
the quick instinct which told him that some old ruin
consisting of nothing but broken cisterns, foundations
nardly to be traced, and fragments of broken pottery,
was a Biblical site which had long been wanted to fit
into its place for the determination of a tribe boundary,
or was some long lost historical city filled with sacred
and classical associations.

The first offices of the Society in Pall Mall East
were retained until the year 1877, when the Fund was
turned out in order to make room for an enlargement
of business premises ; an office was then found at
Charing Cross, but this was soon discovered to be
too small for the wants of the Society, and in the
year 1880 another move was made to Adam Street,
Adelphi, where the Fund is now established.

In the year 1879 it was judged prudent, the Asso-
ciation having now become possessed of a considerable
amount of property, to convert it into a Limited
Liability Company, under the Acts provided, with

30 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

power to trade, but not for profit of the managers.

This was done without altering the management in

the least. There are seven or eight nominal share-

lioldcrs, the former manner of government is

continued, and the Society has all the protection

afforded by the law, which enables it to defend, if

necessary, its copyright in books and maps and its

property in collections and objects of art.

Other domestic history there is little. Of the

original Executive Committee first elected on April

1 8, 1866, two alone remain, Mr, Walter Morrison,

who has been the hon. treasurer for the Fund since

July, 1867, first with Mr. John Abel Smith and then

Mr. Culling Hanbury, and since his death, alone ; and

Sir George Grove, the first hon. secretary.

oi,. .. , In the year 1870 the Committee
Publications of ■' '

the Society, published a book, edited by Mr. Walter
Morrison, called the " Recovery of Jerusalem," in
which, among other papers, Captain Warren gave
an account of his excavations. Abcnit two thousand
copies of this work were sold by the Society's
publishers, Messrs. Bcntley and Son. This was
followed by a more popular book called " Our Work
in Palestine," written by the secretary for the Com-
mittee, in which were set forth not only the nature of
the excavations, but also their meaning, and the chief
arguments in the controversy of the sites. Of this
book, now out of print, nine thousand copies were sold.

CHROy/CLE OF THE SOCIETY. 31

After the completion of the survey, Captain Conder
wrote a popular account of its methods and general
results called " Tent Work in Palestine." This book
was very well received. It passed from a library to a
cheap edition, of which the second thousand has
lately been called for. It promises, and deserves, to
remain a popular and standard work on the Holy
Land. On his return from the interrupted eastern
survey, Captain Conder wrote another book called
" Heth and Moab." In this work, which has also
passed into a cheap edition, the author relates the
story of his discovery of the Hittite Kadesh, and of
his raid into the eastern country.

In the years 1881-85 the Committee published, for a
limited number of subscribers, their great work called
the " Survey of Western Palestine." This work is by
far the most important they have as yet issued ; it is,
in fact, the most important zvork {not excepting even
Robinson's) on the Holy Land that has ever been given
to the luorld ; and the most importajit contribution to
the illustration of the Bible since its translation into the
vulgar tongue. It contains : —

I. The Memoirs : with all the drawings, plans,
sketches and notes made by the officers,
supplemented by such other information as
could be got from other recent travellers {e.g.
under the word " Tyre " will be found a short
history of the city, with an account of Rcnan's

32 TlVENTy-ONE YEARS' WORK.

excavations, and, in an appendix, Captain
Condor's later researches). These volumes
arc illustrated by thousands of drawings,
plans, maps, and sketches of ruins, tombs,
&c., made by Captain Conder and Captain
Kitchener expressly for the work.

2. The Name Lists : containing over 10,000

names collected during the Survey. These
were transliterated by Captain Conder, and
translated by the late Prof Palmer.

3. Special Papers : being a reproduction of

papers which have already appeared in the
Quarterly Statement.

4. Flora and Fauna of Palestine: with illustrations,

hand-coloured, by Rev. Canon Tristram.

5. Jerusalem. An account of all that has been

done in the city in excavation and research,
from 1865 to 1882, by Major-Gen. Sir Charles
Warren, G.C.B., F.R.S., R.E., and Captain
Conder, R.E., together with a portfolio of 60
sheets of plans and drawings.

6. To these volumes has been recently added

Prof Hull's "Geology of Palestine," a scien-
tific memoir embodying his observations and
discoveries during his expedition in 1884-85.
At the same time, and forming part of the same
work, were produced the maps issued by the Com-
mittee, namely : the Great ]\Iap of Western Pales-

CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY.

tine in 26 sheets ; the Reduced Map in six sheets ;
the same with the Water Basins laid down ; the
Old Testament Map of Western Palestine, and the
New Testament Map. As regards the two latter
they will shortly be withdrawn and replaced by
others showing both sides of the Jordan, including
so much of the Eastern survey as is yet completed ;
the tribe boundaries and identifications will be
superintended by Sir Charles Wilson and Captain
Conder.

The whole of this work has been produced in a
manner worthy of its contents, every drawing that
the officers gave in has been published, with every
note of their memoirs. The maps are in the best
style, the reduced map being engraved on copper.
The cost of the whole work, including everything, has
been no less than ^10,971. Of this large sum, ^^7,301
has been received from the subscribers to the whole
work, and by sale of the maps separately, and when
the remaining copies are taken up and the maps
have been before the public a little longer, there will
certainly be no loss to record at all.

In the year 1885 was published Prof Hull's
popular account of the geological expedition, in a
volume called " Mount Seir."

The MSS. in the hands of the Committee and
awaiting publication will be spoken of presently.

Other books, published on kindred topics, though

34 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

not issued by the Society, must also be noted, as
showing the increased activity and interest in the
subject. Among them are Warren's " Underground
Jerusalem," and his " Temple or the Tomb " ; Palmer's
" Desert of the Exodus " ; Tristram's " Land of
Moab " ; Ginsburg's " Moabite Stone " ; Sir Richard
Burton's " Unexplored Syria " ; Fergusson's " Tem-
ples of the Jews " ; Condcr's " Handbook to the
Bible," and his primer of '"Bible Geography" ; Besant
and Palmer's " History of Jerusalem " ; Lady Burton's
" Inner Life of Syria"; Laurence Oliphant's "Land
of Gilead"; Merrill's "Eastern Palestine"; Dr.
Clay Trumbull's " Kadesh Barnea " ; Conder's " Judas
Maccabaeus " ; Wright's " Empire of the Hittites" ;
Drake's " Life and Literary Remains ; " the " Trans-
actions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology " ; the
books of the Societe de I'Orient Latin ; Tobler's
learned works ; the " Records of the Past " ; the
publications of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society ;
the Transactions of the American, German, and
Russian Palestine Societies ; and many others.

- It is impossible to estimate by any

Exploration, money standard the value of the Society's
work, for so far, and so far only, as it is solid and
true, is it valuable, and all that in it is solid and
true is unspeakably valuable.

The whole amount of money received by the

CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY.

35

Society from June, 1865 to December 31st, 1885, has
been as follows : —

From subscriptions and don;

Proceeds of lectures

Proceeds of publications

Legacies ...

Maps and memoirs*

Loan

;^66,38o 17

And the expenditure has been as follows : —
On exploration ... ... ... ^35,o8i 19

)ns ,

^50,902

18

8

...

2,682

8

5

...

1,825

I

9

2,819

7,301

8

6

...

850

Returned to subscribers in pub-

lications

.. 8,224

17

9

Maps and memoirs*

.. 10,971

5

9

Management

.. 11,424

5

Expended on exhibitionsf

347

9

7

Balance ...

331

I

I

;^66,38o 17 4

In other words, out of a total expenditure of
;^66,049 i^-^- 3^- spread over 21 years, the Committee
have spent : —

On exploration ... ... 53 per cent.

* This includes the money spent and received on account of the
" Survey of Western Palestine," the memoir!: with their ilkistrations,
the maps, and ail tlie charges belonging to the publication of them.

t The Society has held two Exhibitions in London and one in
Liverpool,

C 2

36 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

On management ... ... 17 per cent.

Returned to subscribers in

form of printed matter ... 13 per cent,
and on maps and memoirs, two-thirds of which have
already been recovered by sales, while all the rest will
also be recovered, a proportion of 17 per cent.

The present assets of the Society are ( i ) the balance
at the bank amounting to a few hundreds ; (2) its
books, copyrights, photographs and maps ; (3) its
collections now at South Kensington, and (4) its
library, collections and furniture at the central office.
The liabilities are a current printer's bill of about
^400, and a debt of ;i^850 for an unpaid loan.

The collections could, if necessary, be sold for a
very large sum of money. They include sarcophagi,
ancient lamps, inscriptions, Jewish pottery, carvings,
capitals, coins, objects of all kinds found in the ex-
cavations, models of Jerusalem and Sinai, collections
of birds, and many other things. It is not in-
tended, however, either to sell or to disperse this
unique and valuable museum, but to keep the things
together, and to make them the nucleus of the
great Biblical Museum which the Society proposes
to form.

The present General Committee of a hundred and
thirty gentlemen includes in its list, it is gratifying
to state, all the survivors of the original members.
In the whole twenty-one years' history of the

CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIETY. 37

Society there has been recorded but one secession
from the Committee: that of a member who withdrew
his name, but without assigning any reason. The
chairman of the Executive Committee, which meets
twice every m.onth, and oftener if necessary, is
Mr. James Glaisher, F.R.S., and every information
may be obtained, and the publications seen at the
Society's offices, i, Adam Street, Adelphi.

38

CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST EXPEDITION.

On base of column, Nebratein,

The first expedition sent out by the Committee
was in November, 1865, under Captain C. W. (now
Col. Sir Charles) Wilson, R.E., who was accompanied
by Lieut. Anderson, R.E. The general objects
of the expedition were to fix, in particular, spots for
further investigation, and to collect whatever infor-
mation might be possible which would throw light
on any of the points mentioned in the original
prospectus of the Society, The expedition was in
the field from December, 1865, to May, 1866, The
following is the report of the work done, drawn up,
from Captain Wilson's letters, by a sub-committee,
appointed for the purpose, consisting of the Arch-

nmmMn v)i}i)?>Hffn> }„>f)„tT ^

THE FIRST EXPEDITION. 39

bishop of York, the Dean of Westminster, and
Professor Owen : —

1. Topography. — By accurate observations for time and
latitude, made at forty-nine separate points between
Beyrout and Hebron, and by a hne of azimuths carried
through the country from Banias to Jerusalem, a series of
detailed maps has been formed, on the scale of one mile to
an inch (the scale of the English Ordnance Survey), of the
whole backbone of the country, from north to south,
including the lake of Genesareth and all the watercourses
descending to its western shores.

^ i „ » Two debated questions have been

YAR UN ^

PLAN OF CHURCH definitely settled: the confluence of
the Jabbok (Wady Zerka) with the
Jordan, and the course of the Wady
Surar. The nature of the country,
especially in the south, is very un-
favourable for rapid reconnaissance, as
the numerous watercourses are so narrow, and have such
tortuous courses, that it is unsafe to trust the eye, and lay
anything down that has not actually been visited. Most
of the errors in the existing maps seem to have arisen in
this way. To remedy this defect has been the aim of
the present map, and must be the aim of any additions
to it hereafter.

2. Archeology. — Materials have been collected for making
about fifty plans, with detailed drawings, of churches, syna-
gogues, mosques, temples, tombs, tScc, amongst which are
the plans of the cities of Beisan, Sebastiyeh, and Coesarea ;
of the Holy Place of the Samaritans, and the ruined
Church of Justinian, on the summit of Mount Gerizim ;
of ancient churches at Baalbek, Yarun, Sebastiyeh, Beitin,
Bireh, Cssarea, I.ydda, Beit Jibrin, Kuryet-el-Enab, and
Jerusalem ; of seven Jewish synagogues ; of the Grand

a □ □ B

o o □ a □

\Jit}}}>!}!}l}>}}>}»}}.}nJ.

O ro ^O 30 »0 SOfCLT

40

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Mosque at Damascus, of a mosque at Nablus ; of Temples
at Deirel-Kalah, Mejdel-Anjar, and Kedes, and of numerous
tombs in various ])art^ r^'i the country.

Columbaria near Beit Jibrin

Inscriptions were found and
copied at the Nahr el-Kelb, Uer
el-Kalah, Masi, Damascus, Tel

M E 1 r6n

PLAN OF A TOMB

Salhiyeh, Harran, el-Awamid, (^p^-nL
Banias, Kedes, Yarun, Nehratein, ■' ' ■■■■■ v ^
Kefr Birim, Kasyun, and Nablus; J:
several of these are new, two of
them in the Hebrew character,
and others in the Samaritan.
Sfjueezes were taken of the most

1

*

^x^^

^■ r -*^

tH

important, including the tablets of Sennacherib at Nahr

•■J

THE FIRST EXPEDITION.

41

el-Kelb. The Hebrew and Samaritan inscriptions have been
referred to Mr. Deutsch, of the British Museum, who has
kindly undertaken to report upon their contents, age, &c.

The most mteresting remains are
those of the ancient synagogues at
Tel Hum, Irbid, Kefr Birim, &c.
To these attention has been called
by Dr. Robinson m his " Later
Biblical Researches." But the
present expedition has furnished
the first complete account of their
arrangement and construction.
They all lie north and south, have
three gateways in the southern end,

'*Axt?iarC»MOCi

MEIRON

the interior divided into five aisles
by four rows of columns, and the

two northern corners formed by 4,1/^6! HAOJAlOH AN in
double engaged columns. The OYKTCOPAA'HT-HCAICI
style of decoration does not always MAXOlOrONOC

appear to have been the same. At From iJanias.

Tel Hum (the strongest claimant for the '^ite of Caper-
naum) and Kerazeh (Chorazin) Corinthian svmagogue at
capitals were found ; at Irbid a mixture of
Corinthian and Ionic ; whilst Kefr Birim,
Meiron, and Um el-Amud have capitals
of a peculiar character. The faces of the
lintels over the gateways are usually orna-
mented with some device ; at Nebratein
there is an inscription and representation
of the seven-branched candlestick ; at Kefr
Birim the ornament appears to have been intended for
the Paschal lamb ; and at Tel Hum there are the
pot of manna and lamb. A scroll of vine leaves with
bunches of grapes is one of the most frequent ornaments.

f^

□ Q c: Q
Q ,:. li
B r; ::■ Q

c i;i

O 10 to 30 *0 XfCCl

42

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

The position of Choraziii at Kerazeh, a couple of miles
north of Tel Hum — which had been indicated by the Rev.

12'

From Nebratein

3'2'

From Kerazeh,

G. Williams, in 1842 — now seems to be fixed with tolerable
certainty, by the presence of extensive remains, including
those of a synagogue.

THE FIRST EXPEDITION.

43

The ancient system of irrigating the plain of Genesareth
can still be traced, and may help to throw light on the site

of Capernaum. From the streams which descend the three
Wadys of Hammam, Rubadiyeh and Amud, water was
carried to the right and left by small aqueducts, and beyond
these towards the north-east the plain was watered by the

'^ TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

spring of Tabighah. The Round Fountain seems to have
irrigated a comparatively small extent of ground between
Wady Rubadiyeh and Wady Hani mam, the aqueducts from
both of which can be traced nearly up to their sources, the
latter one being still in use. By carefully using the water
derived from these sources the entire plain was perfectly
irrigated, and from the richness of its soil must have been ot
great fertility. Neither Ain et-Tin nor the Round Fountain
answer to the account given by Josephus of the Fountain of
Kepharnome ; they are too small, and hardly come into
the scheme of irrigation — the former not at all ; but,
supposing it to be Ain Tabighah, his allusion is at once
explained by the copiousness of the supply, and the
excavated channel through the rock above Khan Minyeh,
by which tlie water was carried into the plain ; the
fertilizing powers of the fountain are still attended by the
rank vegetation around the mills, more noticeable there
than at any other point of the lake.

Near the mouth of Wady Semakh, on the eastern shore
of the lake, some ruins called Khersa were visited, possibly
those of the ancient Gergasa, and between this and Wady
Fik (opposite Tiberias) appears to have been the scene of
the destruction of the herd of swine ; indeed no other point
on that side of the lake is so suitable. From the eastern
plateau the ground slopes steeply, in a few places almost
])recipiiously, down to the level of the lake, leaving a
margin of fertile land from half a mile to a mile broad
between the base of the hills and the water ; but at this
particular point, and only at this, a spur runs out to the
shore, there is no " cliff," but a slope sufficiently steep to
fulfil the requirements of the Bible narrative.

Excavations were made in three places in the mound of
Tel Salhiyeh, apparently an Assyrian monument, near
Damascus, during wliich the sculjjtural slab mentioned in

. THE FIRST EXPEDITION. 45

Porter's " Five Years in Damascus " was re-discovered.
Owing to the badness of the weather it was not advisable to
persevere with the exploration at that time ; but it has been
since resumed by Mr. Rogers, Her Majesty's Consul at
Damascus, to whom a sum oi j(^^o has been voted by the
Committee for that special object.

Besides determining the general form of the authentic
synagogues, the excavations made at Kedes confirm the
conjecture that the supposed synagogue there was a Greek
temple, of about the same age as those at Baalbek. At
Jerusalem, the gate Gennath, so-called, was found to be of
comparatively modern construction ; and the continuation
of the passage from the Bab el-Burak of the Haram, was
discovered ; the vault is of massive, well-built masonry, and
there seems no reason to doubt that it is one of the original
entrances to the Herodian Temple.

On Mount Gerizim numerous excavations were made,
under the direction of Lieutenant Anderson. Within the
ruin known as the " Castle," the foundations of an octagonal
church were laid bare, probably the one known to have
been built there by Justinian. On the eastern side of
the church is an apse, on the northern side the main
entrance, and on each of the others doors leading to small
side chapels. In the interior are the piers of a smaller
octagon, apparently intended to carry a dome. The church
and castle were found to be built on a rough platform of
large stones laid together without mortar, and of this — ■
which may possibly be that on which the Samaritan Temple
stood — the so-called " twelve stones " form a portion. No
trace of large foundations could be found on the southern
portion of the small plateau on which the castle stands.
Close to the Holy Rock of the Samaritans a number ot
human remains were dug up, but no clue could be obtained
to their age or nationality.

46

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

3. Photographs. — A series of photographs (9x6), 166 in
number, have been taken, the majority for the first time.
They comprise views of sites, details of architecture, inscrip-

THE FIRST EXPEDITION.

47

tions, &c., the Samaritan Pentateuch, and a few natural
objects.

The most important feature of this expedition has
proved to be the examination of the synagogues, and
especially the synagogue of Tel Hum. The "two
debated questions " which were then settled are illus-
trative of the then condition of Palestine geography.
If such a question or any other were now to arise
in considering a passage of the Bible the Great
Survey Map would at once settle the matter just as a
reference to a dictionary settles the spelling of a
word. But so rich a harvest of work from so short an
expedition was wholly unexpected and was received
with great satisfaction.

A fuller paper on the Synagogues
of Galilee, was written by Captain
Wilson, and published originally in
the second number of the Quarterly
Statement^ in the year 1869. It
was republished with a paper by
Captain Kitchener, in the volume of the " Survey of
Western Palestine," called " Special Papers."

^REAT SYNAGOGUE AT
KEFR BIR'iM.

o a a C3 D a

O 10 ^O 30 ^O 5VF€£r

48

CHAPTER IV.

TIIF. EXCAVATIONS AT JERUSALEM.

It was in IMaj', 1867, that Lieutenant Warren, R.F..,
left England, charged with the duty of conducting
excava<-ions at Jerusalem, in the hope of settling once

THE EXCA VA TIONS A T JERUSALEM. 49

for all the controversies on the Holy sites. The
questions under dispute were chiefly these : —

1. The site of the Temple within the walls of the

enclosure, known as the Haram esh Sherif.

2. The site of Constantine's Church of the

Anastasis, with which was involved the site,
true and traditional, of the Holy Sepulchre.

3. The course of the First, Second, and Third

Wall, which involved the site of the towers
of Hippicus, Phasaelus, Mariamne, and
Psephinus. The course of the Second Wall
is also closely connected with the site of the
Holy Sepulchre.
" 4. The Gates of the Walls.

5. The date of the erection of the Dome of the

Rock.

6. The position of the tower of Antonia, the Gate

Beautiful, the course of the Tyropoeon valley,
Millo, Acra, the Pool of Bethesda, the Gate
Gennath, and many other places.
As regards the controversialists, they have been
so numerous that at least as many as sixteen dif-
ferent reconstructions of the ancient city have been
proposed. Robinson, who began first to doubt
the traditional sites, argued that the Second Wail
must have included the present Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, which, therefore, could not be built

on the true site. Fergusson, who first advanced

D

so rWENTY-ONE YEARS' fVOA'/T.

his theories in the }'ear 1847, and subsequently was
permitted to ad\ocate them in "Smith's Dictionary of
the Bible," in 1865, contended that the Dome of the
Rock in the Temple enclosure is nothing else than
Constantine's Basilica, that the cave which it covers is
the Holy Sepulchre itself, that the present traditional
site was fraudulently assumed by the monks, in order
to keep up the flow of pilgrims; and that the Temple
itself was built in the south-west corner of the Haram
Area. He was followed in the main, though not
altogether, by Lewin, Thrupp, and others, while his
principal opponents were at that time Prof. Willis,
George Williams, and Finlay.

The arguments used for and against the various
theories were based upon the following authorities : —

1. The topographical references scattered about

in the Bible.

2. The descriptions of Josephus.

3. The Rabbinical writings.

4. The notices of the city found in other ancient

authors, and especially those of the early
Christian writers, such as Jerome, Eusebius,
Cyril, and Origen.

5. Ecclesiastical history.

6. The travels of early pilgrims.

7. The lie of the ground.

8. The architectural evidence.
<). Tradition.

THE EXCAVATIONS AT JERUSALEM. 51

As regards the first six sources of information, the
writers of 1865 were in just as good a position as those
of the present year, except in one or two particulars.
Thus, the list of early pilgrims has been increased by
the discovery of another MS. or two, and a better
text is now accessible. There was not, probably, living
then, nor is there living now, any one man, if we may
except Dr. Robinson, who had gone through the long
collection of Byzantine writings in order to extract
the references to Jerusalem and the Holy Land,
though Williams quotes a few passages — he does
not say whether he found them himself — from
Cedrenus and others. No one then — again excepting
Robinson — had systematically read and examined
the early Arabic travellers and historians, though
quotations were made by Williams in his " Holy
City" from one or two and those at second hand.
This work has now been undertaken by the Palestine
Pilgrims' Text Society, a branch of the Fund.
Twenty years ago it was customary to sneer at
the exaggerations of Josephus. Recent dis-
coveries have, however, proved that in some
cases at least he is very near the truth. And
there was so general a disposition to decry the
weight of Rabbinical authority, that, in the Jeru-
salem article of Smith's Bible Dictionary, it is
laid down as a general proposition that the autho-
rity of the Rabbis " is so questionable that it is of

D 2

52 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

the least possible consequence what they said or
meant." It is now, however, admitted, and has
been proved in a very remarkable paper lately
published in the Journal of the Society, that the state-
ments of the Rabbis, so far from being of no con-
sequence, are valuable and important to the highest
degree.

Next, as regards the lie of the ground. That was
everywhere unknown. Wilson in his tentative exca-
vations had clearly proved that the modern city stands
upon many feet of rubbish : George Williams speaks
of twenty feet of rubbish : the original Prospectus
speaks of sixty feet : and everybody knew that there
were vast quantities of debris lying outside the city
walls, but no one knew the depth of this rubbish.
The course of the Tyropoeon valley, on which the
course of the Second Wall depends, was unknown,
while Fergusson, in his Jerusalem article, states
positively, as if it was a well-known and indisputable
fact, that all along the south wall of the Temple the
rock Avas everywhere visible ; the truth, as now
known, being that it is visible at one point only,
being buried a hundred feet deep at the two
extremities — east and west. Also in placing the
Temple in the south-west corner of the Haram Area,
Fergusson, thinking that it was a level area, placed it
upon a slope of one in five, unless, as has been con-
jectured, a cliff existed at this spot.

THE EXCA VA TlOyS A T JERUSALEM. 53

As regards the architectural argument, Fergusson's
theory may be thus briefly stated : —

1. The architecture of the Dome of the Rock is

Byzantine, and is of the time of Constantine,

2. Therefore it must be the BasiHca of the

Anastasis.

3. Therefore it covers the true site of the Holy

Sepulchre, and therefore the present tradi-
tional site must be a forgery of the monks.

4. Therefore this spot must have been within

the walls of the city,

5. Therefore the Temple must necessarily have

been in the south-west corner, because there
is no other place in which to put it.

6. Therefore the present east wall of the Haram

must have been part of the Third Wall of

the City.
De Vogiie, on the other hand, declared his opinion
that the Dome of the Rock was really and truly built,
as all the Arab historians agree in stating, and the
inscription within it declares, by Abd el Melek ; but
that it was constructed for him by Byzantine architects,
the Arabs themselves being incapable of any archi-
tecture. De Vogiie was supported in this opinion by
the late Professor Willis, an architectural authority of
the highest rank. It remains to be seen what view
will be taken of the subject by future writers.

As for the value of tradition, there are some who

54

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

place the highest value on tradition when it seems to
be uninterrupted. Now the site fixed upon by Constan-
tine's advisers, as that of the Holy Sepulchre, does
seem, to many of those who have examined into the
question, determined by an unbroken catena of evi-
dence extending from the middle of the fourth century
until the present day. Unfortunately, however, there
is not a single whisper of tradition concerning that
site before the fourth century.

Captain Conder, however, has laid down an axiom
on tradition, the value of which was not recognised
twenty years ago. It is this, that tuhen the traditions
of Jezv, Cliristimi, and Moslem unite there is strong
presumption for believing that they are right.

No one doubts, for
instance, the site of
Hebron, Rachel's

Tomb, and Jacob's Well,
while only the Greek
Christians believe in the
yearly miracle of the
Holy Fire, and the hun-
dred and one legends
with which they have
surrounded the Holy places,

Warren's excavations were continued from February,
1867 till April, 1870, a period of about three years.
Since the year 1870 a good deal of work has been

THE EXCA VA TIONS A 7 JER USALEM. 55

done by Captain Conder, M. Clermont Ganneau, Herr
Conrad Schick, Herr Guthe (for the German Society),
Dr. Chaplin, and the Russians. The whole of this
work has now been summarized and arranged by
Sir Charles Warren and Captain Conder, and pub-
lished in the volume entitled "Jerusalem," forming
part of the great work, " The Survey of Western
Palestine." This book is a great deal more than a
description of the excavations ; it is the most com-
prehensive and complete work on the Holy City
ever published ; it contains a chronological synopsis
of the history of the city ; an account of all its
architectural monuments, with the earliest accounts
of the buildings, a statement of the controversy con-
cerning the disputed sites ; and a complete account
of the excavations and their results, with all the
work that has been carried on in the city since
Warren's time. The volume is accompanied by a
portfolio containing sixty sheets of drawings and
plans most of which have never before appeared. It
is impossible here to do more than recapitulate the
principal results of excavations which are without
parallel for the difficulties presented, and the courage
displayed in overcoming them.

As regards the walls of the Temple Area, Warren
proved that this colossal work is covered up with
di'brts in some places to a depth of 100 feet, and
in one place to a depth of 125 feet below the present

56

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

surface of the ground. The foundations were laid
bare, by means of deep shafts sunk through the
ddbris, and it was proved that the stones had been
lowered into their places, ready dressed ; that the
dressing of the stones is not uniform, for in some
parts they present a rough face with a marginal draft.
And in others a smooth face also with a marginal di*aft.
The corner stones are from 14 to 15 feet in length.

riiiiracters in Lowest Stones-, S.E. wall.

THE EXCA VA TIONS A T JERUSALEM.

57

Inscribed Jar Handles.

and from 3| to 4^ feet in height ; in some of those
at the S.E. angle Phoenician characters were found
— ^jar handles were also found here with Phoenician
characters which are variously interpreted ; the arch
called Robinson's arch was proved to have been the
last of a series of arches leading to the Temple from
the Upper City, the voussoirs of two arches, one con-
structed after the other had fallen in, were lying buried
in the ground beneath it. Excavations were also made
at Wilson's arch higher up on the same side of the
wall and disclosed a series of rock-cut chambers, the
purpose of which is unknown, with a broad subter-
ranean passage evidently designed for the secret pas-
sage of troops from the citadel to the Temple in case
of need. A single course of great stones was found to
run from the south-east angle to the Double Gate ; and
the so-called Solomon's Stables were proved to be a

58

IIVENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK'.

comparatively modern re-construction. The alleged
great wall 600 feet from the south-west angle {see
Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," art. Jerusalem) was
proved to have no existence. The wall of Ophel was

Gallery near E. wall.

found and traced for a long distance. An aqueduct was
found on the west side older than the portion of the wall
at the south-west angle; the Tyropoeon valley was
followed up, and rock levels have been obtained showing

THE EXCA VA TIONS A T JER US ALE M. 59

the contour of the whole city except at one point,
namely, that within the south-west front of the Haram
Area, concerning which there is still some uncertainty.
These points have been enumerated because they bear
specially on the problem of the site of the Temple,
The conclusions drawn from the facts by Sir Charles
Warren are that the oldest portion of the wall is the
south-east part and the south as far as the Double
Gate; that Solomon's palace stood in the south-east,
and that the south-west was built by Herod; and that
the Temple stood in the middle ; where, in fact,
Jewish, Christian and Mohammedan tradition all unite
in placing it.

Since these excavations many curious and valuable
discoveries and observations have been made. Thus,
the capitals in the Dome of the Rock have been
accurately sketched, the Kalat Jalud and the Tower of
David have been examined. The First Wall on the
south of Mount Zion has been discovered and traced
by Henry Maudslay, C.E. ; the existence of ancient
tombs below the church of the Holy Sepulchre has
been proved and the tombs planned, and the whole of
the country round the city has been carefully explored
and described.

New things arc continually being found in
Jerusalem, e.g., the ancient wall discovered this very
year, which may very likely turn out to be the Second
Wall ; new discoveries connected with the old walls

6o

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

with the Temple, and with the various occupiers (jf
the city, but it is certain that nothinf:^ will ever be

w^n

'■ #

11!"' "1

imSfer^^irs^ii:

i^;

Cnpitals supporting the Dome of the Rock.

done in the future to compare with what was done by
Warren. Before he dug there, the ancient city was
measured by the modern the *' sleepy little Jcbusitc

THE EXCA VA TIONS A T JERUSALEM.

6i

Lamps fouml in the Excavaiiuns.

62 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

town," as it has been called. The proud words of
Joscphus, the passionate love of the Jews for their city,
and their praise of its ancient glories, seemed exag-
gerated and absurd in presence of those grey walls
and those narrow limits. It was Warren who restored
the ancient city to the world ; he it was who stripped
the rubbish from the rocks, and showed the glorious
Temple standing within its walls, i,ooo feet long and
200 feet high, of mighty masonry ; he it was who laid
open the valleys now covered up and hidden ; he who
opened the secret passages, the ancient aqueducts, the
bridge connecting temple and town. Whatever else
may be done in the future, his name will always be
associated with the Holy City which he first recovered.
Many questions, it is true, still remain unanswered,
many gaps in our knowledge have to be filled up, but,
in the main features, those who have followed Warren
and Conder in their statement of facts and their
conclusions, and who agree with them, have no longer
any doubt as to the position of the Temple, and the
real builders of the Kubbet es Sakhra,

As regards the true and actual site of the Holy
Sepulchre there are four schools.

I. Those who believe that the site fixed on for
the buildings of Constantino was the true
site, well known to and remembered by
Christians from the very beginning, and that
it is the site now shown.

THE EXCA VA TIONS A T JER US ALE M. 63

2. Those who think, with Fergusson, that Con-

stantine's site was that now covered by
the Dome of the Rock, and that it was
the true one, well known to Christians of
his time.

3. Those who think that Constantine's site is that

now called the Holy Sepulchre, but that in
his time the Christians knew no more about
the real site than we ourselves know,

4. Those who believe that the true site is that

proposed by Captain Conder, outside the
present walls.
If the Second Wall be proved to include the present
church, then the first school are for ever silenced, and
the present traditional sites are forever abolished. If
Warren, Conder, Palmer, and others who believe the
Dome of the Rock to have been built by Abd el Meiek
be right, then the second school is silenced. Of the third
opinion, nothing need here be said, except that it is
undoubtedly certain that no reference whatever is
made to the site of the Holy Sepulchre before the time
of Eusebius, although Christians were, much earlier
than this time, in the habit of making pilgrimages to
the site of the Ascension. As to the fourth opinion,
Conder's suggestions may be read in the Quarterly
Statement. If they do not carry conviction they
make out a very strong case for the position of the
Tomb in the immediate vicinity to that proposed.

64

CHAPTER V.

THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS.

In the year 1870 an examination was made of a part
of the Desert of the Tih which had often been crossed
but never explored. (^Quarterly Statement, January,
1 87 1.) Prof Palmer undertook the w^ork accompanied
by ]\Ir. C. F, Tyrwhitt Drake, both now, unhappily,
deceased.

They travelled alone, on foot, and with no servants,
being dressed as Syrians, and depending only on the
escort of the camel drivers, who were changed from
tribe to tribe, and on their own knowledge of the
language and customs of the natives.

The result of the expedition may be briefly summed
up.

I. Praehistoric monuments.

They found scattered about numerous nazvaDiis
("mosquito houses") similar to those which exist in
the Peninsula of Sinai. These are circular con-
structions about ten feet in diameter, built of unhewn
stones and covered with a carefully constructed dome-
shaped roof, the top of which is closed by a large slab

Jebel Magrah

W. Garaiyeh.

^i'li :i:i|il|i'lllllililliii!lillilllliiiN!iih:wiliMiMliiM.nt,jv.ui.iiuiJ.l" .n-mii.

I
W.Jerafch

THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS. 65

of stone and the sides weighted to prevent them
springing- out ; the entrance is by a low door, two feet
high. They are Hke the "bothan" of the Shetland Isles.

They found many large stone circles, some a hundred
feet in diameter, having in the centre a cist covered
with a heap of boulders. In the cists were human
skeletons.

Beside these sepulchral rings were traces of the
deserted buildings of the people buried in them. They
are collections of circles enclosed within rudely shaped
wallsj probably permanent camps of a pastoral people.
We have here, probably, the Hazeroth of the Bible
(Numbers xi. 35, Deuteronomy i. i). The Moors in
Morocco to this day construct camping grounds
exactly similar. On the hills about the Wady
Muweileh were found among cairns and ancient
dwellings, a great number of well made heaps of stone
placed with regularity along the edge of the cliff
and all facing east. These it is supposed are ancient
altars of Baal, the Sun god.

II. Biblical sites.

I, The site of Kibroth Hattaavah (Numbers xi.

33-35)-
The place proposed for this important identification

now called Erweis el Ebierig, is an elevated ground,

admirably adapted for the assemblage of a large

concourse of people, and covered for miles round

with traces of such an assemblage and sojourn.

£

66 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

It is according to tradition the camp of a great Hajj
caravan which in remote ages sojourned here and were
afterwards lost and ncv^er heard of again. The
distance is exactly a day's journey from 'Ain Hudherah.

2. The site of Haradeh (Numbers xxxiii. 24).
The place proposed is now called Jebel 'Aradeh.

3. Eshcol (Numbers xiii. 23, 24).

This place has generally been identified with
Hebron, but Palmer found evidence that the vineyards
formerly extended a long way south of that city, and
that there is no need to place Eshcol so far north.

4. Hagar's Well (Genesis xxi. 19).

Identified with a spring in the Wady Muweileh.

5. Kadcsh Barnea (Genesis xiv. 7 ; Numbers

xiii. 3-26; xiv. 29-33; >^-^- i; Deuteronomy

ii. 14).

Palmer agreed with those who would place
Kadesh in the region near where Rowlands made
his discovery in the year 1840, but he failed to
find Rowlands's great spring, which was not re-
discovered for many years afterwards, when the Rev.
F. W. Holland first,* and Dr. Clay Trumbull, an
American traveller, secondly,! were so fortunate as
to find it. The place and its associations are related
by Mr. Trumbull in an excellent monograph called

* May 14, 1878. StCQ Quarterly Statemetif, 1884, p. 9.
t March 30lh, i88l.

!""T ^'Si

tii

\

*'■''■'.;'■<''

'*:;-^J

■:f;^

■i

■A 2

'2

Halt!!

TfTF. DESERT OF THE EXODUS. 67

"Kadesh Barnea" (New York, 1884), from which the
following eloquent account is quoted : —

Out from the barren and desolate stretch of the burning
desert-waste, we had come with a magical suddenness into
an oasis of verdure and beauty, unlooked for and hardly
conceivable in such a region. A carpet of grass covered the
ground. Fig trees, laden with fruit nearly ripe enough for
eating, were along the shelter of the southern hillside.
Shrubs and flowers showed themselves in variety and pro-
fusion. Running water gurgled under the waving grass.
We had seen nothing like it since leaving Wady Fayran ;
nor was it equalled in loveliness of scene by any single bit
of landscape, of like extent, even there.

Standing out from the earth-covered limestone hills at
the north-eastern sweep of this picturesque recess, was to
be seen the " large single mass, or a small hill, of solid
rock,"* which Rowlands looked at as the cliff {SeFa) smitted
by Moses, to cause it to " give forth his water,"t when its
flowing stream had been exhausted. From underneath this
ragged spur of the north easterly mountain range, issued
the now abundant stream.

A circular well, stoned-up from the bottom with time-
worn limestone blocks, was the first receptacle of the water.
A marble watering trough was near this well — better
finished than the troughs at Beersheeba, but of like primi-
tive workmanship. The mouth of this well was only about
three feet across, and the water came to within three or
four feet of the top. A little distance westerly from this
well, and down the slope, was a second well, stoned-up
much like the first, but of greater diameter; and here
again was a marble watering trough. A basin or pool of
water larger than either of the wells, but not stoned-up hke

* William's Holy City, p. 490/. f Numbers xx. 8.

E 2

68 'IWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

them, was stcmingly the principal watering place. It was
a short distance south-westerly from the second well, and it
looked as if it and the two wells might be supplied from
the same subterranean source — the springs under the Rock.
Around the margin of this pool, as also around the stoned
wells, camel and goat dung — as if of flock and herds for
centuries — was trodden down and commingled with the lime
stone dust so as to form a solid plaster-bed. Another and
yet larger pool, lower down the slope was supplied with
water by a stream which rii)pled and cascaded along its
narrow bed from the upper ])ool ; and yet beyond this,
westward, the water gurgled away under the grass, as we
had met it when we came in, and finally lost itself in the
parching wady from which this oasis opened. The water
itself was remarkably pure and sweet ; unequalled by any
we had found after leaving the Nile.

There was a New England look to this oasis, especially
in the flowers and grass and weeds ; quite unlike anything
we had seen in the peninsula of Sinai. Bees were humming
there, and birds were flitting from tree to tree. Enormous
ant hills made of green grass-seed, instead of sand, were
numerous. As we came into the wady we had started up a
hare, and had seen larks and quails. It was in fact hard
to realise that we were in the desert or even near it. The
delicious repose of the spot, after our journey over the arid,
gravel-waste under the blazing mid-day sun, was most
refreshing. The water itself was hardly less of a blessing
to us than to the Israelites when it flowed and murmured
anew for them after their murmurings. We seated ourselves
in the delightful shade of one of the hills not far from the
wells, and enjoyed our lunch, with the music of brook and
bees and birds sounding pleasantly in our ears. Our
Arabs seemed to feel the soothing influence of the place ;
and to have lost all fear of the 'Azazimeh, even when

THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS. 69

the danger from them was probably greatest. After a
brief rest on the grass, they all stripped, and plunged
into the lower and larger pool for a bath.

One thing was sure ; all that Rowlands had said of this
oasis was abundantly justified by the facts. His enthusiasm
and his active imagination had not coloured in the slightest
his picture of the scene now before us. The sneers which
other travellers had indulged in, over the creation of his
heated fancies, were the result of their own lack of know-
ledge — and charity. And as to the name of the oasis,
about which Robinson and others were so incredulous, it
is Qadees (^a^^'jji), as it was written for me in Arabic by
my intelligent Arab dragoman, a similar name to that of
Jerusalem, El-Quds, the Holy ; the equivalent of the
Hebrew Kadesh.

6. Zephath (Judges i. 17).

The name of Sebata had been given to Rowlands,

but no one else had ever heard it, and the place had

never been visited. Palmer, however, found not only

the name, under the form of Sebaita, but also the

Watch Tower (Zephath) which gave the name to the

city. The ruins are those of a large town, 500 yards

long by 300 wide (modern Jerusalem within the walls

is only about I, lOO yards across either north and south,

or east and west). There are the ruins of three

churches, a tower, and two reservoirs for water. No

timber was used, the absence of wood being supplied

by thick beams of stone as in the staircase. The

place is three miles from the fortress, which according

to Palmer's theory, c^ave it the name of the " Watch

Tower."

70 . TWENTY- OXE YEARS' WORK.

This is one of the most remarkable examples of
the tenacity of the ancient names. It is 3,500 years
since "Juclah, with Simon his brother," changed the
name from Zephath to Hormah. The country has
been successively Jewish, Roman, Christian, Moham-
medan, Christian again, and Mohammedan again.
Yet here is the original name surviving still.

7. The Wells of Rehoboth (Genesis xxvi. 22).

In Wady Ruhcibeh, Dr. Robertson could find no
wells at all. Dr. Stewart found one. Dr. Rowlands
found one. Palmer and Drake, after some search,
discovered a well covered over by a piece of fallen
masonry. The two wells of Genesis xxvi. 21, 22,
were called Sitnah and Esek. On the left of the
Wady Ruheibeh there is a small valley called
Shutnet er Ruheibeh, in which is still found the
word Sitnah.

8. Aroer of Judah (i Samuel xxx. 28).

This is in the Wady Ararah, a few walls only
remaining.

9. Elusa.

This place, laid down in the Peutinger Tables, was
identified by Robinson with Khalasah. But Robin-
son did not visit it, and laid it down incorrectly.
Palmer found it to be a shapeless mass of ruins.

10. The Wells of Beersheba (Genesis xxi. 14, &c.).
Here Palmer found the hill side covered with ruins,

THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS. 71

among them the remains of a Greek church {see
p. lOl).

11. Hora, a large ruin with caves, cisterns, and

flint-built houses.

12. Datreiyeh, built of solid masonry, and on

arches.

13. Ed Dhaheriyeh, an old city of the Horites
or Cave Dwellers. (Conder's Debir.)

14. Abdeh, the ancient Eboda,

This place was visited for the first time by Palmer.

15. El 'Aujeh.

The ruins contain a church with heaps of broken
walls and half destroyed wells.

III. The recovery of the geographical divisions of
the Negeb or South country. Thus,

1. In the low country north and west of Beersheba

we recognise Negeb of the Cherethites.

2. South of Hebron, in the outposts of the hills

of Judah, we can identify the Negeb of
Judah, the ruined cities of Tel Zif, Main, and
Kurmul, indicating the locality of the Negeb
of Caleb.

3. Tel Arad and its adjacent plains form the

Negeb of the Kenites, probably extending to
the south-western end of the Dead Sea.

4. Between Wady Rukhmeh in the north, and

Wadies El Abyadh, Marrch, and Madarah,
in the south, lay the Negeb of Jerahmeel.

72 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' IVORK.

The mountains of the Azazimeh were not
included in the Negeb.

These are the principal results of a very remarkable
and fruitful expedition, which was afterwards continued
through Edom and Moab, with visits to Petra, Mount
Hor, the Lisan, and Kcrak. The complete examination
of this district, with excavations in the ruins, will be
undertaken, it is hoped, in the immediate future.

73

, CHAPTER VI.

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE.

We how come to the Survey of Western Palestine,
the work of which we have the most reason to be
proud, because it has in every respect answered all
our expectations.

As regards previous geographical work in the Holy
Land, the earliest maps worthy of mention are those of
D'Anville(L'Empire Turc) and Rennell's Geography
of Western Asia. A map of Palestine and Syria was
prepared by Napoleon I., and the Admiralty survey
of the coast included a certain amount of survey work
of the interior. The first attempt to classify and
portray in a .systematic manner the results obtained
by earlier travellers was in the map of Bcrghaus (Karte
von Syrien) published in the year 1835. Among
those travellers are the well-known Clarke, Seetzen,
Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles, Catherwood, Wellsted,
and others. In 1836-37, Von Schubert travelled through
the country and added considerably to the knowledge
of its natural history and scenery. In 1838 Rus-
segger collected a great quantity of geological infor-
mation. In the same year Robinson and Smith

74 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

made their first journey through the country from
Sinai to Damascus. Robinson had prepared himself
by fifteen years of study. The map which resulted
from his observations entirely superseded Bcrghaus,
while his account of his travels was, up to the appear-
ance of our new map with the Memoirs, the text-book
of all students of Biblical geography.

In 1 84 1 Lieutenant Symonds, R.E., made a triangu-
lation from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and from there to the
Dead Sea ; and another from Cape Blanco to Safed
and the Sea of Galilee. Sketches were also made at
the same time by Scott, Robe, and Wilbraham.
In 1847 Lieutenant Molyneux descended the Jordan
from Galilee to the Dead Sea, but unfortunately died
from the effects of exposure to the sun. Lynch, who
followed him in 1848, executed a rough sketch
of the course of the Jordan and a chart of the Dead
Sea. In 1850 the western and southern shores of the
Dead Sea were visited by M. De Saulcy ; in 1851-52
Van de Velde first visited the country; in 1852
Robinson and Eli Smith made a second journey ;
in 1853 Dean Stanley made his first journey; in
1850-55, Dr. Porter lived in the country; in 1855
Mr. Poole investigated the western and southern
shores; in 1857, Mr. Cyril Graham travelled in the
Hauran and the district of the El Harrah; in 1858
Herr Wetzstein also visited the Hauran ; in 1860-61,
the French troops being in Syria, certain reconnais-

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 75

sances were made, afterwards embodied in the Carte
du Liban ; Captain Mansel, R.N. at the same time
made an Admiralty survey of the coast. In the years
1861-62, Van de Velde made a second visit to the
country, and in 1863 Dean Stanley also visited it
again. In 1863-64 Canon Tristram travelled through
Palestine, and at the same time the Due de Luynes
took a party into the country, among whom were
Lieutenant Vogues of the French navy, and M.
Lartet. The former executed a map of the Dead Sea
and the Arabah, while the latter published a work on
the geology of Palestine, which is of the highest
value. In 1870 Captains Mieulet and Derrien, of the
French Etat Major, began what was intended to be a
survey of the whole country, but were recalled by the
outbreak of the Franco- German war.

So much then, not including Wilson and Ander-
son's work of 1865 and the reconnaissance of Warren
in 1 867- 1 870, had been done for the geography of
Palestine before the survey.

At the commencement, and in order to set
forth the need of such a survey, there was prepared a
comparative map showing first a portion of Pales-
tine, including a small piece of country surveyed
by Wilson, and beside it a corresponding portion
from the ordnance survey of Kent. The map of
Van de Velde was at that time the best of all
maps of Palestine \ it was the work of a careful

76 TlVENry-ONR YEARS' WORK.

and scientific traveller and scholar, who not only took
observations himself, but laid down on his map all
the observations made by previous travellers. We
had before the meeting of June 22nd, 1886, an
enlargement of a portion of Van de Velde's map,
and beside it, an enlargement of the Society's survey
of the same portion. The first, with its hills roughly
sketched in, its valleys laid down roughly, and its
inhabited places, villages, or ruins, gives absolutely
all that was known of this piece of country before
the survey. It was on such a map as this, the best
at the time, because the most faithful, that the
geographical student had to work. There was little
use from a geographical point of view in consulting
previous books of travel, because they gave no facts
other than had been taken from them and laid down
upon the map by Van de Velde ; hardly any single
place was laid down correctly ; none of the hill
shading was accurate ; the course of the rivers
and valleys was not to be depended upon ; the de-
pression of the Lake of Galilee was variously stated ;
distances were estimated by the rough reckoning
of time taken from place to place ; and out of the
10,000 names collected by our officers and laid upon
our map, Van de Velde's had about 1,800, while the
general index of names given by Robinson shows only
17 1 2 names. Not a single position certain; not a
single distance trustworthy ; not a range of hills, not

THF. SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 77

a river or a wady correctly laid down ; and only an
eighth part of the modern names collected, and this
for a country where the ancient names survive with
a most remarkable vitality, clinging under changed
forms to the old sites ; where the history which these
lands illustrate is singularly minute, and assumes
everywhere a knowledge of the country, so that the
writer never stops to explain where the scene of every
episode occurs, except to name it as a spot already
known, and where the boundaries of the tribes cannot
possibly be laid down without an exact knowledge of
those features which in every country constitute the
natural boundaries.

It was to remedy this state of things that the
survey was undertaken. The first officer in command
was Captain Stewart, R.E. With him was associated
Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake, attached partly as a
naturalist, partly as archaeologist, and partly on
account of his knowledge of the country and the
people, having been on expeditions previously, once
with Captain Burton in North Syria,* and once with
Professor Palmer through the Desert of the Tih (see
supra chapter V.).

Captain Stewart, however, was unfortunately in-
valided home and obliged to resign almost at the veiy
outset. Sergeants Black and Armstrong, his assistants,
began and carried on the work until the arrival of

* See " Unexplored Syria," by Burton ami Drake, 1S72.

78

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' VVORIC.

Lieutenant Conder, R.E. The survey went on without
interruption until June, 1874, when Mr. Drake was
attacked by fever and died. His place was taken by
Lieutenant Kitchener, R.E. The next interruption,
four-fifths of the work being then accomplished, was
in July, 1875, when the party were attacked by the
Safed people and compelled to retreat to Haifa.

Here Captain Conder remained to fight the case in the
Turkish courts, and on obtaining a sentence and fine
for the assailants, returned to England, where the
party were occupied with field work at home.

In 1877, Lieutenant Kitchener went out again and
finished the survey, returning home in 1878. The
work was accomplished under great pressure and in

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE.

79

a time of great excitement. The principal discoveries
made by Captain Kitchener in this part of the survey,
which included the greater part of Galilee, were cf a
previously unknown synagogue, two cromlechs and a
large number of ruins. The two cromlechs, together

Cromlech in Galilee.

.y ^^.

with a rude stone monument discovered by Mr.
Laurence Oliphant in the hilly country of Eastern
Judea, are the only old stone monuments remaining
in Western Palestine.

The map when completed was photo-lithographed
by the Ordnance Survey Department at Southampton.
It was published in 1880. A reduction was made on
the scale of 8 miles to 3 inches, and engraved for the
Committee by Mr. Edward Stanford, a truly beautiful
piece of work, and one which reflects the greatest
credit on the engraver.

The memoirs which were intended to accompany this
work were compiled from their note books by Captains

8o TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Conder and Kitchener during the years 1876-80, and
are published in the " Survey of Western Palestine "
(1880-84).

The Biblical Gains from the survey may be con-
sidered from many points of view.

First, therefore, from that of the recovery of ancient
sites. There are 622 Biblical names west of the
Jordan. Of these 262 were known before the Survey
was commenced, that is, rather more than a third.
During the Survey no fewer than 172 were discovered,
and arc now generally accepted. So that of the
whole number of places now identified, namely 434,
almost exactly two-fifths are due to the Survey.
There still remain 188 places hitherto undiscovered.
Some of these may lie among the 10,000 names
collected by the surveyors. Others may still be
discovered, because we cannot pretend in a country so
full of names to have collected every one. But those
which yet await recovery are for the most part obscure
places mentioned perhaps once or twice, such as the
Brook Besor(i Samuel xxx. 9, 10, 21), Avim (Joshua
xviii. 23), or Elcph (Joshua xviii. 28). Some names
not yet found are important, such as Arimathoea,
Gath, the Brook Cherith, Eshcol, the stone Ezel,
Gethsemane, Nob, Mamre, and Ziklag. It is to be
hoped that all these names will, one by one, be
rescued from oblivion.

As regards the natural features of the countr}-, the

I

I
(

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 8i

Survey has substituted exact detail for general state-
ments. It is impossible in these short limits to
explain the enormous importance of this to the
historical student. The boundaries of tribes ; the
march of armies ; the route of travellers and pil-
grims ; the way of commerce ; intercourse with foreign
nations ; the fords, passes, and valleys open for an
invader,— these things form the foundation of Bible
history ; without these things its history cannot be
understood. And these things are found legible to
him that can read maps on our great survey. A few !

instances, however, may be adduced. The ancient
and royal city of Tirzah, the residence of Jeroboam '

and his successors — " beautiful as Tirzah, comely as
Jerusalem " — is one of the places recovered by the
survey.

Just twelve miles east of our Jeb'a camp, on a plateau
where the valleys begin to dip suddenly towards Jordan,
stands the mud hamlet of Teiasir. We afterwards visited
it from the Jordan camp, and found it to have been once
a place of importance, judging from the numerous rock-cut
sepulchres burrowing under the houses, the fertile lands and
fine olives round, and the monument of good masonry,
seemingly a Roman tomb. Just north, of it we discovered
a ruin called Ibzik, which is unquestionably a Bezek known
to Eusebius, and i)robal)ly the place where Saul collected
his army before attacking the Ammonites (i Samuel xi. b).

In the latter ruin is a little chapel dedicated to Neby
Hazkin, " the Prophet Ezekiel," and the high mountain
crowned with thicket behind is called " Ezekiel's Moun-
tain."

82 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

This name Teiasir I su])pose to be Tirzah. It contains
the exact letters of the Hebrew word, though the two last
radicals are interchanged in position, a kind of change not
unusual among the peasantry. The beauty of the position
and the richness of the plain on the west, the ancient
remains, and the old main road to the ]ilace from Shechem
seem to agree well with the idea of its having once been
a capital ; and if I am right in the suggestion, then the
old sepulchres are probably, some of them, those of the
early kings of Israel before the royal family began to be
buried in Samaria.

Or, as an illustration of how the map and a descrip-
tion together help to restore the past, read what
Captain Condcr says of the defeat and flight of Sisera.

The subject which naturally concludes the account of
the Plain, is therefore the great battle in which the host of
Sisera was drowned in the swollen waters of this river.

The amount of light which can now be thrown on this
episode is very great. The topography has hitherto been
obscure, but the survey does much to explain it. To sup-
pose that Sisera fled from the Great Plain to the neighbour-
hood of Kedes in Upper Galilee (a distance of over thirty
miles) has always appeared to me to be contrary to what we
know of the general character of the Biblical stories, the
scenes of which are always laid in a very confined area ;
nor has the name of the plain, Bitzaanaim, near Kedesh,
been recovered in th's direction. Bitzaanaim was a town
of Issachar, near Adami (Ed Damieh) and should there-
fore be sought east of Tabor in the plateau over the Sea of
Galilee, where we still find it in the modern Bessum.
The Kedesh of the narrative where Barak assembled his
troops is therefore probably Kedish on the shore of the Sea
of (ialilee, only twelve miles from Tabor. There is thus,

THE SURVEY OE WESTERN PALESTINE.

83

- _ ., ^ . ^ . ,> ..^ ^ I 1 1 1 1 I I III

Restored/ Seclcon, & EleyaUaro
N. Froni/

Tomb at Teiasir.

F 2

84 rWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

from a military point of view, a consistency in the advance
to Tabor (a strong position in the line by which the enemy
was approaching), which is lacking if we suppose a descent
from the stronger hills of Upper Galilee. The Kings of
Canaan assembled in Taanach and by the waters of
Megiddo, but it was not at either of these places that the
battle was fought. Sisera was drawn to the river Kishon
(Judges iv. 7), and the host perished near Endor, " at the
brook Kishon " (Psalm Ixxxiii. 10). The battle-field indeed
was almost identical with that which Napoleon named the
" battle of Mount Tabor," when the French drove the Turks
into that same treacherous quagmire of the Kishon springs.
There are few episodes in the Old Testament more
picturesque than this of the defeat of the Canaanites.
Tabor, the central position, a mountain whose summit is
1,500 feet above the plain, is bare and shapeless on the
south, but to the north it is steep, and wooded with oaks
and thickets in which the fallow-deer finds a home. About
three miles west are the springs from which the Kishon
first rises, and from this point a chain of pools and springs,
fringed with reeds and rushes, marks, even in the dry
season, the course of the river. Along this line, at the
base of the northern hills, the chariots and horsemen of
Sisera fled. The sudden storm had swollen the stream,
" the river Kishon swept them away, that river of battles,
the river Kishon." The remainder fled to Harosheth, now
only a miserable village (El Harathiyeh), named from the
beautiful woods above the Kishon at the point where,
through a narrow gorge, the stream, hidden among oleander
bushe.s, enters the Plain of Acre.

The flight of Sisera himself was in an opposite direction,
under the slopes of Tabor and across the great lava plateau
on which stood, near Bessum, the black tent of Heber the
Kenite. The two incidents in the tragedy of his murder

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 85

by Jael, which most require illustration are tlie "milk" and
"butter" with which she regaled her victim, and the
reasons which, in her eyes, justified the deed.

The Bedawin have a delicious preparation of curdled
milk called Leben, which is offered to guests, but generally
considered a delicacy ; from personal experience I know
that it is most refreshing to a traveller when tired and hot,
but it has also a strange soporific effect, which was so
sudden in its action on one English clergyman after a long
ride, that he thought he had been poisoned. It was
perhaps not without a knowledge of its probable effects,
that Jael gave to her exhausted guest a tempting beverage
which would make his sleep sound and long.

The murder of a fugitive and a guest is so contrary to
the morality of the Semitic nomads, that we must seek for
a very strong justification. It could not have been national
enthusiasm which actuated Jael, for she was a Kenite, not a
Jewess, one of a nation hostile to Israel, and there " was
peace between Jabin King of Hazor (Sisera's master) and
the house of Heber the Kenite." The true reason is pro-
bably to be sought in Sisera's entering the tent at all.
There are instances in later history in which a defeated
Arab has sheltered himself in the women's apartments, but
such an infringement of Eastern etiquette has always been
punished by death , and it is not improbable that in re-
venge for such an insult Jael seized the iron tent-peg and
drove it with the mallet, used to fix the tents to the ground,
through Sisera's brain.

One final illustration m.ay be added, suggested to me
quite lately by an English clergyman. In the magnificent
song of Deborah, the great storm which swelled the Kishon
is described :

"They fought from heaven, the stars in their courses
fought against Sisera " (Judges v. 20).

86 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

The season was probably that of the autumn storms
which occur early in November. At this time the meteoric
showers are commonest, and arc remarkably fine in effect,
seen in the evening light at a season when the air is
specially clear and bright. The scene presented by the
falling fiery stars, as the defeated host fled away by night, is
one very striking to the fancy, and which would form a fine
subject for an artist's pencil.

Another interesting site is Antipatris, of which
Captain Conder writes : —

It was well known in the fourth century, but its site was
lost to the Crusaders, who identified it at Arsuf, the ancient
Appollonia, where also the more ignorant supposed Ashdod
to have stood. It is only within the last twenty years that
attention has been directed to the true site.

Josephus describes Antipatris as a city in the plain, close
to the hills, in a position well watered, with a river encom-
passing the city, and with groves of trees. Now, as there is
but one river in the plain of Sharon, anywhere near the
required part, and as there is on that river but one impor-
tant ancient site, surrounded by water and near the hills,
we can have little doubt as to the locality of the town,
first apparently identified by the late Consul Finn, in 1850 ;
but, in addition to this, we have in the old itineraries,
various measurements to surrounding places which, though
not quite exact, still serve to indicate the same site. They
are as follows :

R.M. R.M.

Antipatris to Galgula {Kalkilia) 6, measures 6-^

„ Lydda 10, ,, 11

„ Betthar {Tireh) 10, „ 9^

„ Csesarea 28, ,, 30

These measurements on the survey bring us to the ruined

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 87

site of Ras el 'Ain, a large mound covered with ruins from
the sides of which on the north and west, the River
'Auian (the Biblical Mejarkon, or "yellow water"), gushes
forth, a full-sized stream.

A confusion has arisen between Antipatris and a town
called Caphar Saba, in consequence of the loose description,
given by Josephus, of a ditch dug by Alexander Balas,
" from Cabarzaba, now called Antipatris," to Joppa (Ant.
xiii. 15, i) ; but the same author afterwards explains that
Caphar Saba was a district name, applied to the plain near
Antipatris (Ant. xvi. 5, 2).

In the Talmud, the two towns, Antipatris and Caphar
Saba, are both noticed in a manner which leaves little doubt
that they were separate places. Of Antipatris, we learn
that it was a town on the road from Judea to Galilee, the
boundary of " the Land " on the side of Samaria ; and, as I
have noted above, the great boundary actually runs into
the plain at this point. But while Antipatris was a Jewish
city, Caphar Saba was in the district which was considered
foreign ground, as within Samaritan territory, and an
idolatrous tree existed there, perhaps now represented by
the great sacred tree at Neby Serakah, close to Kefr Saba,
five and a-half miles north of Ras el 'Ain.

Antipatris, with two other places, Jishub and Balris, is
mentioned as a station at the entrance to "the King's
Mountain," as the Jews called the Judean hills. This
agrees with its situation at the base of the hills, the other
places being, perhaps, Siifin and iiudrus, in the same
district.

The site thus fixed by the survev measureiuent.s, is one
naturally better fitted for an important town than any in the
district. The name has indeed vanished, being a (}reek
title derived from tliat of Herod's father, and always
awkward to the mouths of the natives ; but the stream, the

88

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

mound of ruins, and the neighbouring hills remain ; the
deep blue pools of fresh water well up close beneath the

S c ale 5^gQ

W* J <^ 70 30 'y jc 6C y ^c 9r 1^'^ t't^ tfo ttr t*o i^f> t^ "o tfc 'P* tCf'letl

fm^^^'T^^:^'^'^^^^^^^^^-^'^- ^^^^:^^;^^^v v^^/^g^^:-4

Gatfy

,U The Castle stands nrLCymoumiyncaSunruj 1000 feexE& WbyiiSC^
feetN&S.

Crusading: Castle at Ras el "Ain.

hillock, surrounded by tall canes, and willows, rushes, and
grass. A sort of ragged lawn extends some two hundred
yards southwards, and westward the stream flows rapidly

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 89

away, burrowing between deep banks, and rolling to the
sea, a yellow, turbid, sandy volume of water, unfordable in
winter, and never dry, even in summer.

The ruins of Herod's city are now covered with the shell
of a great Crusading castle. The knights seem to have
taken the name Mirr, or " Passage," applied to a hamlet
near the ford, and transformed it into Mirabel, by adding
" bel," a word which occurs in the names of several of
their fortresses, such as Belfort, Belvoir, &c. The
castle is flanked with round towers, and resembles that of
Capernaum (near 'Athlit), on a larger scale. It was here
that Manasseh, the cousin of Queen Melisenda, was besieged,
in 1 149, by Baldwin III., and obliged to capitulate. In
1T91 IVIirabel was dismantled by Saladin, on the approach
of King Richard, in common with Plans, Capernaum, and
many other castles ; nor does it appear to have been
subsequently restored.

Before the survey it would have seemed hopeless to

recover a place mentioned only once, and then in

connection with an event of such great antiquity as

the career of Samson. Captain Conder, however,

found it while in Samson's country.

The substitution of B for M is so common (as in Tibneh
for Timnah), tliat the name " 'Atab " may very properly re-
present the Hebrew Etam (or " eagle's nest ") ; and there
are other indications of the identity of the site. It is
pre-eminently a " rock " — a knoll of hard limestone
without a handful of arable soil, standing, above deep
ravines, by three small springs. The place is also one
which has long been a hiding-place, and the reciuirements
of the liible story are met in a remarkable way ; for the
word rendered "top of the Rock Etam " is in reality "cleft "
or " chasm "; and such a chasm exists here — a long, narrow

90

TWENTY- ONE YEARS' WORK.

cavern, such as Samson might well have "gone down " into,
and wliich bears the suggestive name Hasuta, meaning
" refuge " in Hebrew, but having in modern Arabic no
signification at all.

This remarkable " cave of refuge " is two hundred and
fifty feet long, eighteen feet wide, and five to eight feet
high ; its south-west end is under the centre of the modern
village ; its north-east extremity, where is a rock shaft ten
feet deep leading down from the surface of the hill, is
within sixty yards of the principal spring.

The identification thus proposed for the Rock Etam is,
I believe, quite a new one ; and it cannot, I think, fail to
be considered satisfactory, if we consider the modern name,
the position, and the existence of this remarkable chasm.
Ramath Lehi, where the Philistines assembled when search-
ing for Samson (Judges xv. 9-10), is naturally to be sought
in the vicinity of Zoreah — Samson's home, and of the
Rock Etam where he took refuge.

Rock Allar of Zoiah.

A little way north-west of Zoreah, seven miles from Beit
'Atab, is a low hill, on the slope of which are springs called
Ayun Abu Meharib, or the " fountains of the place of

THE SUE VE V OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 9 1

battles." Close by is a little Moslem chapel, dedicated to
Sheikh Nedhir, or "the Nazarite chief ;" and, higher up,
a ruin with the extraordinary title Ism Allah—" the name
of God." The Nazarite chief is probably Samson, whose
memory is so well preserved in this small district, and the
place is perhaps connected with a tradition of one of his
exploits. The Ism Allah is possibly a corruption of EsnVa
Allah — " God heard " — in which case the incident intended
will be the battle of Ramath Lehi. Finally, we were
informed by a native of the place that he springs were
sometimes called 'Ayun Kara, in which name we should
recognise easily the En Hak-Kore, or "fountain of the
crier " (Judges XV. 19).

To say that this spot certainly represents Rathmath Lehi
— "the hill of the jaw-bone" — would be too bold. It
seems, however, clear that a tradition of one of Samson's
exploits lingers here ; the position is appropriate for the
scene of the slaughter with the jaw-bone, and we have not
succeeded in finding any other likely site.

We may note the shifting of sites— Nazareth, for
instance, has slipped down the hill, and Jericho has
been three times changed.

As regards the Cities of the Plain, a remarkable
example occurs of how the survey may be used to
recover a site. Beyond the information that they
were in the Vale of Siddim, " which is the Salt Sea,"
there is nothing known. But it seems almost certain
from many considerations, that they must have been
somewhere at the north of the Dead Sea, and this
being so they may have stood at some distance from

92

TIVEATY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

each other, and it is further absohitely certain that
they must each have been built within reach of a
freshwater spring.

Now there are but few springs on the north shore of
the Dead Sea or in the plain near it. On the north-
west there is a fine spring called 'Ain Feshkhah and

Ain Jidy.

higher up the valley springs are abundant. Guided
by this spring we find a great bluff not far south of
it called Tubk 'Amriyeh and a neighbouring valley
called Wady 'Amriyeh. Now this word is radically
identical w^ith Gomorrah Again, where is Zcboim?
The word means " hya:nas." A cliff just above the
plain, near the site of modern Jericho, is called Shukh
cd Duba, (lair of the hyaena). Is this the site of Zeboim?

7 HE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 93

Again, to show how at every step of the way the
Bible may be illustrated :

There is one other remarkable natural feature in this
interesting plain of Jericho which demands attention — the
Kelt Valley, running from the spring of that name, and south
of Eriha, past Jiljulieh to Jordan. There seems no doubt
that this is the Valley of Achor, in which Achan was
stoned ; and the bed of the valley is full of boulders and
pebbles of every size, which would account for its being
chosen as the scene of the execution, as there is hardly a
stone in the greater part of the plain round it.

Wady Kelt has been also thought to be the Brook
Cherith, and the scene seems well fitted for the retreat of
the prophet who was fed by the " 'Oreb," whom some
suppose to have been Arabs. The whole gorge is wonder-
fully wild and romantic, it is a huge fissure rent in the
mountains, scarcely twenty yards across at the bottom, and
full of canes and rank rushes between vertical walls of rock.
In its cliffs the caves of early anchorites are hollowed, and
the little monastery of St. John of Choseboth is perched
above the north bank, under a high, brown precipice. A
fine aqueduct from the great spring divides at this latter
place into three channels, crossing a magnificent bridge
seventy feet high, and running a total distance of three
miles and three-quarters, to a place where the gorge de-
bouches into the Jericho plain. On each side the white
chalk mountains tower up in fantastic peaks, with long knife-
edged ridges, and hundreds of little conical points, with
deep torrent-seams between. All is bare and treeless, as
at Mar Saba. The wild pigeon makes its nest in the "secret
])laces of the stairs '' of rock ; the black grackle suns its
golden wings above them ; the eagle soars higher still, and
over the caves by the deep pools the African kingfisher

94

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

r

Mar Saba.

flutters ; the ibex also still haunts the rocks. Even in
autumn the murmuring of water is heard beneath, and the
stream was one day swelled by a thunderstorm in a quarter
of an hour, until it became a raging torrent, in some places
eight or ten feet deep.

One more recovery. Is not the site of Bcthabara
dear to all Christians ? This is the story^ of a
suggestion, if not a recovery :

The fords were collected and marked in the natural
course of the survey, the names carefully obtained, and
every precaution taken to ensure their being applied to the
right places. It was not, however, until the next winter that
I became aware how valuable a result had been obtained.
Looking over the nomenclature for the purpose of making an

THE SURVEY OF UESTERN PALESTINE. 95

index, I was struck with the name 'Abarah applying to a
ford. The word means " passage," or " ferry," and is radi-
cally the same word found in the name Bethabara. I
looked 'Abarah out at once on the map, and found that it
is one of the main fords, just above the place where the
Jalud river, flowing down the valley of Jezreel and by
Beisan, debouches into Jordan.

One cannot but look on this as one of the most valuable
discoveries resulting from the survey ; and I have not, as
yet, seen any argument directed against the identification
which seems to shake it. It may be said that the name
'Abarah is merely descriptive, and perhaps applies to several
fords. That it is descriptive may be granted ; so is the
name Bethabara, or Bethel, or Gibeah, or Ramah. That it
is a common name may be safely denied. AVe have
collected the names of over forty fords, and no other is
called 'Abarah ; nor does the word occur again in all the
9000 names collected by the survey party.

Nor do we depend on the name alone. An identification
may be defined as the recovery of a site unknown to
Europeans, but known to the natives of the country.
Evidently places can only be known by their names, unless
we have measured distances by which to fix them. If in
England we endeavoured to recover an ancient site, and
knew the district in which it should occur, we should be
satisfied if we found the ancient name applying to one place,
and one only, in that district. A\'ithout the name, we should
still be in doubt. Does not this apply to Palestine ? It is
true that name alone will not be sufficient ; position must
be suitable also. No one would try to identify Yarmouth
in Norfolk with Yarmouth in the Isle of \\'ight. But, on
the other hand, without the name it is merely conjecture,
not identification, that is possible.

Here at 'Abarah we have the name, and nowhere else, as

96 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

yet, has the name been found ; the question then arises, is
the position suitable ?

We speak commonly (A liethabara as the place of Our
Lord's baptism. Possibly it was so, but the Gospel does
not say as much. It is only once mentioned as a place
where John was baptising, and where certain events hap-
pened on consecutive days. These events are placed in
the Gospel harmonies immediately after the Temptation,
when Christ would aj^pear to have been returning from the
Desert (perhaps east of Jordan) to Galilee. Bethabara,
" the house of the ferry," was " beyond Jordan ; '" but the
place of baptism was no doubt at the ford or ferry itself;
hence the ford 'Abarah is the place of interest. It cannot
be Christian tradition which originates this site, for Christian
tradition has pointed, from the fourth century down to the
present day, to the fords of Jericho as the place of baptism
by St. John.

" And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of
Galilee" (John ii. i). Here is the controlling passage.
The hostile critics of the fourth Gospel have taken hold of
it ; they have supposed the traditional site to be un-
doubtedly the true one, and have thence argued the
impossibility that in one day Christ could have travelled
eighty miles to Cana. To the fourth century enquirer the
difficulty would never have occurred ; he would have
answered at once that Our Lord was miraculously carried
from one place to the other; but the Gospel does not say
so, and we should therefore look naturally for Bethabara
within a day's journey of Cana. The ford 'Abarah is about
twenty -two miles in a line from Kefr Kenna, and no place
can be found, on Jordan, much nearer or more easily
accessible to the neighbourhood of Cana.

I leave these facts to the reader, asking him to choose
between the difficulties attendant ©n the traditional site, and

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 97

the suitability of the new site, where alone as yet the name
of Bethabara has been recovered.

There is, however, another point with regard to Betha-
bara which must not be overlooked. The oldest MSS.
read, not Bethabara, but Bethany, beyond Jordan. Origen
observed this, yet chose the present reading, and we can
hardly suppose that the early fathers of the Church made
such an alteration without some good reason ; perhaps the
original text contained both names, "Bethabara in Bethany"
beyond Jordan being a possible reading.

The author of " Supernatural Religion " has made a point
of this reading in arguing against the authenticity of the
fourth Gospel. He supposes that Bethany beyond Jordan
has been confused in the Evangelist's mind with Bethany
near Jerusalem, forgetting that this very Gospel speaks of
the latter place as "nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen
furlongs off" (John xi. 18). The assumption of the
confusion is quite gratuitous. Bethania, meaning " soft
soil," was the well-known form used in the time of Christ, of
the old name Bashan, which district was in Peraea, or the
country beyond Jordan.

If Bethabara be a true reading, the place should thus
most probably be sought in Bethania, and the ford should
therefore lead over co Bashan. This again strengthens the
case for the 'Abarah ford, which is near the hills of Bashan,
whereas the Jericho fords are far away, leading over towards
Gilead and Moab.

Again, to quote from a paper called "Some of the
Biblical Gains due to the New Survey," published in
the Quarterly Statement o( ]anuaTy, 1881 :

Geographical discoveries of remarkable interest and value
are at once recognised by those who compare the Survey
Map with former maps of Palestine. The Sea of Galilee

98

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

proves to have a depression nearly loo feet greater than
was formerly supposed. The courses of the main affluents
of Jordan on the west are entirely different from those

Sea of Galilee.

previously shown. The Crocodile River springs from a
source formerly unsuspected. Villages have been trans-
posed from one side to the other of great boundary valleys,
forty fords of Jordan are now known where only four were
previously marked. Ten thousand modern names occur on
the map, of which nearly nine-tenths were previously un-
known. Important notes as to the geological structure of
the country, its physical features, cultivation, soil, cUmate.
and natural products have been collected, and the traditions
and customs of its inhabitants have been noted. And from
an archseological point of view our information as to the
dates, the positions, and the nature of the existing ruins, as
to the character of the peasant language, and as to the
manners, customs, and superstitions of the rustic population
has been enormously increased.

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 99

There is another peculiarity with regard to Bibhcal
geography which lends additional interest and importance
to the subject. Palestine is a little country, the length of
which might be traversed by rail in six hours and its breadth
in less than two. The six hundred Bible sites which are to
be found within its limits are thus on an average to be
sought within an area of ro square miles a piece. When
David fled farthest from Saul he was yet not more than 40
miles from Bethlehem, nor more than 50 from Gibeah where
Saul abode. Most of the famous deeds of Samson took
place in a district containing an area of less than 40 square
miles. Jerusalem itself covered at the height of its pros-
perity not more than 330 acres, including 30 acres of the
Temple enclosure. The closeness of the topography while
on the one hand rendering its recovery more difficult, lends
on the other a wonderful vividness and reality to the ancient
episodes of Hebrew history. At Hebron we may almost
trace each step of Abner's way from the Well of Sirah to his
doom at the city gate. By Michmash we may gaze on the
very rock up which Jonathan climbed. At Shechem we
may stand on the brink of Jacob's well, in the very foot
prints of Christ. We are not content to know that Caper-
naum was north of Tiberias, and insist on fixing the exact
spot now disputed by sites only about 2\ miles distant one
from the other. Fierce controversies arise between those
who place Cana 4 miles north of the traditional site and
those who support the latter view. Topography, in short,
takes the place in Palestine of geography, and for this reason
a plan rather than a map is required.

Commencing, then, with the immigration of Abraham
from beyond Euphrates, the first topographical question
which arises is that of the e.xact position of the royal
Canaanite city of Ai. (Sheet XVII.)

The situation of this ancient town, afterwards entirely

G 2

100 TIVENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

destroyed by Joshua, is minutely described in the Bible.
It was " beside " Bethel (Joshua xii. 9), and the Hebrew
has here the force of " close to," which appears fatal to the
claims of various sites south and east of Michmash (or more
than 6 miles from Bethel) which have been proposed. Ai
lay also east of Bethel (Joshua viii. 9) with a ravine to the
north (verse 11) and a desert to the east (verse 15), while
to the west was a place fitted for the ambush which the
Israelites set. These indications were so definite that but
little doubt could exist as to the approximate situation of
the town. Travellers visited and described a ruin called
et Tell, " the mound," which seems first to have been
pointed out by Van de Velde, and the somewhat fanciful
conjecture was advanced that this place derived its name
trom the fact that Joshua made of Ai "a heap {Tell in the
Hebrew) for ever" (Joshua viii. 28).

To this view there were, however, objections. There is
no certain indication that the hillock of et Tell was ever the
site of a city, and the expression " for ever " should be
taken rather as an indication of the early date of the Book
of Joshua, for Ai reappears as a town in the later Jewish
books (Nehemiah xi. 31 ; Isaiah x. 28). Fortunately the
survey party were able to suggest a better explanation
through the discovery of the ancient ruins of Haiyan
immediately south of et Tell. The name recalls the Aina of
Josephus (equivalent to Ai, Ant. v. i, 9), and the existence
of large rock-hewn reservoirs with tombs and cisterns proves
•ihe site to be of importance and antiquity. To the north is
a rugged ravine, to the east the desolate desert of Bethaven.
To the west is Bethel, 2 miles distant, and between the two
sites is the open ravine called " the valley of the city," where
unseen, yet close at hand, the ambush may have lain con-
cealed beneath the low cliffs or among the olive groves after
creeping across from the northern valley behind the rough
rocky swell which runs out to the mound of et Tell.

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. io[

It was from the flat ridge which rises from between Bethel
and Ai that Abraham and Lot looked down on the Cities of
the Plain and on the " circle " of Jordan, and the view from
this point over the desert ranges and the Jordan valley to
Nebo and Moab is still striking and picturesque.

As regards the position of these famous cities which
Josephus believed to have lain beneath the waters of the
Dead Sea, but which modern students place in the Jericho
Plain or in the corresponding basin (Ghor es Seiseban) east
of Jordan, the survey results were rather of negative than of
positive value. A very close and careful examination of the
ground showed that no traces of the sites of any towns
occur between Jericho and the Dead Sea shore, the re-
maining ruins belonging only to medieval monastic estab-
lishments, and that no springs suitable for the supply of
even small villages exist, or probably ever existed, in this
district. Thus, although an apparently successful attempt
has been made by Dr. Selah Merrill to recover the site of
Zoar, our information as to the other four cities, the destruc-
tion of which is described in the Book of Genesis (chapter
xix), remains indecisive. Captain Conder has, however,
pointed out that the term "plain" {Ciccar) is applied in the
Bible to the Jordan valley as far north as Succoth, which
renders it not improbable that Admah, one of the lost cities,
is identical with Adam, a city of Jordan (Joshua iii. ii), the
name of which still survives at the Damieh ford east of
Shechem. (Sheet XV.)

Among the nations inhabiting Palestine in the time of
Abraham the Kenites — a tribe as yet unidentified — are
mentioned (Genesis xv. 19). They inhabited a strong
fortress in the southern part of the country and survived
until the time of David. Captain Conder proposes to
identify this site with the town of Cain which Van de Velde
found in the present ruin of Yekhi. This affords an

I02 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

interesting illustration of the Old Testament narrative.
Yekin perched on the edge of a steep cliff dominating the
desert plateau west of the Dead Sea, is one of the most
conspicuous objects against the sky-line looking from the
east. To Balaam, on the summit of Nebo, it was in full
view, and the words of his prophecy thus receive fresh force
and significance, " strong is thy dwelling place, and thou
puttest thy nest in a rock." (Sheet XXI.)

The history of the later Patriarchs Isaac, Jacob, and his
sons is mainly connected with the district called Negeb or
" dry " in the Bible. Beersheba, Gerar, Rehoboth, and the
unknown sites of Esek and Sitnah are^all to be found in
this part of the country. The reason of this choice of
country is plainly shown by the survey. The high hills of
Hebron, with their steep, rocky valleys, rich soil, and
numerous springs, are suitable for agriculture and the growth
of the olive and the vine ; the low chalky hills and the
healthy Beersheba plateau form a pastoral district still
capable of supporting large flocks and herds. The Hittite
mountains round Kirjath Arba (or Hebron) were already
inhabited by an agricultural population in the time of
Abraham, and the nomadic Hebrews found a suitable home
in the pasture lands of the Philistines and Amalekites in the
" dry district," of which the distinctive character remains
unchanged. Where the Patriarchs once spread their tents
the great tribes of the Azazimeh and Henajereh now
pasture their flocks ; and in the mountains of the sons of
Heth the modern Fellahin lead an agricultural life.

The site of Gerar was discovered before the survey, but
was visited by the party from Gaza. There is little to
describe beyond a gigantic mound on the side of a deep
broad watercourse in the midst of rolling plains.

The question of most interest was that of rediscovering
the wells which Isaac dug again in the valley of Gerar after

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE.

103

those made by Abraham had been filled in by the Philis-
tines (Genesis xxv. 18). No great masonry wells such as
those of Beersheba were discovered ; and, indeed, at Beer-

Abraham's Well, Beersheba.

sheba itself the survey party were able to show that the
masonry once thought to have been the work of Abraham
dates only from Arab times. It was ascertained, however,
that a strong underground stream flows down the great

104 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

valley which, rising near Hebron, runs southwards to
Beersheba, and thence westwards to the sea, passing by the
site of Gerar. The Arabs camping round this latter site are
in the habit of making excavations in the bed of the valley,
from which the water wells up, and which are called by the
Hebrew name Hiifr^ or " pit." If the wells dug by Abraham
were of this description they might easily have been filled in
by the Philistines and reopened by Isaac ; while the loss of
the sites of Esek and Sitnah is on the same supposition
naturally explained.

The later books of the Pentateuch contain but little
information concerning the topography of Palestine proper.
A few notes of interest may, however, be here given in
connection with the survey.

According to the Law of Moses the scapegoat was set
free in the wilderness (Leviticus xvi. 9), but at a later period
an evasion or modification of this command was introduced
by the Jews ; the goat was conducted to a mountain named
Tzuk situated at a distance of ten sabbath days' journey, or
about 6^ English miles from Jerusalem. At this place the
Judsean desert was supposed to commence, and the man in
whose charge the goat w^as sent out, while setting him free,
was instructed to push the unhappy beast down the slope of
the mountain side, which was so steep as to ensure the
death of the goat, whose bones were broken by the fall.
The reason of this barbarous custom was that on one
occasion the scapegoat returned to Jerusalem after being set
free, which was considered such an evil omen that its recur-
rence was prevented for the future by the death of the goat,
as described in the tract Yoma of the Mishna.

The distance given between Tzuk and Jerusalem seems to
indicate a lofty hill top now called el Ahititdr, " the watch-
tower," which dominates the desert west of Jericho. An
ancient road leads from Jerusalem to this point, and beside

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 105

the road is an ancient well preserving the name Tzuk in the
Arab form Sctk. The eastern slope of the hill is steep, and
falls unbroken to the stony valley beneath. The goat, dashed
on the rocks, in its fall must inevitably have been destroyed,
while the mountain may well claim to be considered the
entrance to the dreary desert which stretches beneath its
summit.* (Sheet XVIII.)

Another discovery of some interest was the identification
by the Survey party of one of the species of deer mentioned
in the Pentateuch. In the English version the Hebrew
word Yakhmor is rendered " fallow deer," but this interpre-
tation has not been accepted by modern scholars. It is now
proved that the roebuck as well as the fallow deer is to be
found in the Carmel thickets, and it has been ascertained
that the old Hebrew name Yakhmor is still applied by the
natives to the former species — the English roebuck.

The researches of Egyptologists have thrown considerable
hght on the condition of Palestine and Syria during the time
of the Hebrew bondage in Egypt and during the time of the
Judges. The records of the great conquerors Thothmes
III and Rameses II give long lists of places situated in the
Holy Land and in the country of the Hittites. The reason
why the children of Israel entered Palestine from the east
after their long sojourn in the Sinaitic desert appears to
have been that the Egyptian Government was then firmly
established in the Plain of Sharon. This agrees with the
Bible account of the Philistine immigration into the southern
plains from Egypt, and in this, as in so many other instances,
the records of the Egyptian monuments fully coincide with
the history of the Old Testament.

Attempts have been made by Mariette, Brugsch, de Roug^,
Chabas, and other Egyptologists to identify the towns

* In 1 88 1 Captain Conder revisited this spot, and found the actual
name "6'wX'" still existing.

Io6 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

mentioned in the records of Egyptian conquests in Pales-
tine. Many have been recovered with certainty, but it was
not until the Survey had been completed that it became
possible to study the subject exhaustively. Many existing
ancient sites not mentioned in the Bible are found to agree
exactly with the Egyptian lists, and the probable correctness
of the identifications "thus obtained is evinced by the
ease with which the lists are shown to preserve a proper con-
secutive order, while the districts occur along the very line
of march which we know, from other inscriptions, to have
have been followed by Thothmes and Rameses. The num-
ber of identifications proposed within the country covered
by the Survey may also be contrasted with our almost entire
ignorance of the topography of the Hittite towns lying north
of Damascus, of which scarcely six are known out of a total
of over loo noticed on the monuments.

The Book of Joshua is the central focus of Biblical topo-
graphy, and the elucidation of this book has been materially
advanced by the survey. Several important cities before
unknown have now been fixed with considerable certitude,
and the boundaries of the tribes have been traced in a
satisfactory manner.

The Survey officers were able to confirm entirely the dis-
coveries of M. Clermont Ganneau respecting the sites of
AduUum and Gezer, and to these important towns they add
the identification of Hazor and Debir, with a large number
of less famous names. The site of Gilgal, discovered east
of Jericho by the German traveller Herr Schokke was fixed
by the surveyors, who found the name Jiljidieh still sur-
viving. The site of Makkedah fixed by Colonel Warren,
R.E., at the present village el Mugkdr, " the caves," has
been adopted by the surveyors, who found that at this site
only of all the possible sites for Makkedah in the Philistine
plain do caves {see Joshua x. 22) still exist. The position

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 107

m-M-:

Gilgal.

also agrees well with the identification ot the towns
Gederoth, Beth-Dagon, and Naamah mentioned in the same
group with Makkedah. (Sheet XVI.)

The site of Joshua's tomb has long been sought, the iden-
tification with the rock sepulchre at Tibneh^ north-east of
Lydda, being unsatisfactory for several reasons. Joshua
was buried at a place called Timnath Heres, in Mount
Ephraim, and there is a remarkable consent of Jewish,
Samaritan, and Christian tradition, traceable from the
fourth century downwards, which points to a village called
Kefr Hdris, south of Shechem, as representing the burial
place of Joshua. Captain Conder ascertained that this
tradition is still extant among the Samaritans, and although
it appears little understood by the peasantry, a sacred shrine
exists outside the village of Kefr Haris to which the name
Neby Lush' a (no doubt a corruption of Yehusha, or Joshua),
is applied. Ancient tradition also places the tomb of Nun
at this same village, and a second sacred place called Neby

loS

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Nun was found close to the supposed site of the tomb ot
Joshua.

The Priests Eleazar and Phinehas, the successors of
Aaron, were also buried in Mount Ephraim. The traditional
site was sought in vain by the great American explorer,
Robinson, but the surveyors were more fortunate, and have
visited and minutely described the tombs which according
to Jewish, Samaritan, and Christian tradition alike, are said
to be those of the sons of Aaron. The monument of

Tomb of Phinehas.

Phinehas appears to be of great antiquity, but that of
Eleazar has l)cen rebuilt. They are both close to the
village of Awertah, which the Samaritans identify with the
Biblical Gibeah Phinehas (Joshua xxiv. 33). (Sheets XIV.
and XL)

There is no room in a paper like the present to go very
deeply into the question of the boundaries of 'the tribes.
Several important Survey discoveries have been cordially
accepted by students of the subject, and several very

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 109

no TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

imi)ortant modifications have resulted from the survey in
the Hnes of the borders as formerly laid down. The general
results of the new investigation appear to be as follows : —

ist. I'he boundaries are shown to be almost entirely
natural — rivers, ravines, ridges, and the watershed lines of
the country.

2nd. To many of the tribes were assigned distinct dis-
tricts of the country. Issachar had the great plain, Zebulon
the low hills north of it. The sons of Joseph held the wild
central mountains, and Naphtali those of Upper Galilee.
Dan and Asher occupied the rich Shephelah (or lowland)
and maritime plain. Simeon inhabited the desert, while
Judah, holding the largest share of territory, had both
mountain and Shephelah plain and desert in its portion.

3rd. The enumeration of towns follows always an order
roughly consecutive, and all those of one district are men-
tioned together.

4th. The proportion ot territory to' population is calcu-
lated to vary exacdy in accordance with the fertility of the
district. Taking as a basis the tribe populations (Numbers
xxvi.), it appears that the ancient populations must have
been most dense exactly in those districts in which the
greatest number of ancient ruins is now found, and which
are still most thickly inhabited.

Among the most important discoveries concerning the
tribe boundaries are the following: the waters of Nephtoah
(Joshua XV, 9) are now placed at the pools of Solomon (so
called), besides which the spring 'Atari, the Talmudic Etam,
or Nephtoah, still exists. Formerly they were identified
with the spring near Lifta,west of Jerusalem, probably Eleph
of Benjamin ; but this theory renders the topography very
confused, whereas the new proposal when joined to the new
identification of Kirjath Jearim makes the boundary line of
Judah follow a natural watershed.

THE SUR VE Y OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 1 1 1

On the north-west border of Benjamin, Ataroth Adar
{ed Ddrieh), and Archi {^Ain Arik) have been recovered in
exact accordance with the words of the Bible (Joshua
xviii, 13), which define the position of the former with the
greatest minuteness. The course of the brook Kanah,
(Wady Kanah) has now, for the first time, been correctly
laid down, thus fixing the boundaries of Ephraim and
Manasseh ; and the discovery of Rabbith and other sites
has, for the first time, defined the border of Issachar. Many
new identifications are proposed for the towns of Dan and
Asher, and a group of places belonging to Napthali has
been fixed in an apparently satisfactory manner in the
plateau immediately west of the Sea of Galilee.

Let us now pass to the elucidation which has been

effected through the Survey, of the episodical histories

of the Book of Judges, — the adventures of Caleb,

Sisera, Gideon, and Samson.

The site of the city Debir, for the conquest of which the
valiant Othniel was rewarded by the hand of Achsah,
Caleb's daughter, had long been sought in vain. Many
towns of the group surrounding it had been identified. It
was known to stand in the Negeb, or " dry," country south
of Hebron, and that certain springs should be found not far
off. The name signifies "back," suggesting that the city
stood on a ridge, and Captain Conder was the first to point
out the probable identity with the ancient \\\\:xgQ DJidheriyeh
("of the back"), standing in a conspicuous position among
ancient tombs and quarries close to the other towns of the
groups, while, at a short distance to the north, a valley was
discovered full of springs, some on the hill side, some in the
bed of the ravine, answering in a most satisfactory manner
to the "upper and lower springs" for which Achsah be-
sought her father (Judges i. 15). (Sheet XXV.)

112

TWENTY-ONE YEARS^' WORK.

Ed Dhaheriyeh.

Among the graphic episodes of Hebrew history, there is,
perhaps, none more picturesque than that relating to
Gideon's victory over the Midianites. The general scene is
known, the Valley of Jezreel, now Wady Jalud ; but the
details of the minute topography are still obscured through
the loss of many sites east of Jordan. Zererath, and Tabbath,
Bethabara, Penuel, Nobah, and Karkor (Judges vii. 22 ;
viii. 11) are still uncertain, and it is only possible to say that
pursuit extended from some point below Jezreel to the
mountains east of Jericho.

The survey throws light on the position of Abel Meholah,
and Succoth is identified at Tell Der'ala. Suggestions may
also be offered for the situation of the famous " Spring of
Trembling " (En Harod), where Gideon selected his band,
and light may be thrown on the curious notice of a ISIount
Gilead, west of Jordan, in the same direction.

THE SURVEY OE WES TEEN PALESTINE. 113

hV 7-

H

114 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

It is clear trom the account given by Jose])hu.s that Harod
is to be sought not far from Jordan, and Captain Conder
has suggested that the name 'Ain el Jem'ain, " Spring of the
two Companies," ajjplying to an abundant stream at the foot
of the eastern slope of Mount Gilboa, may retain a trace of
the memory of Gideon's famous selection of three hundred
tried men, who, as able to satisfy their thirst by water taken
in the palm of the hand, were indicated as fitter to endure
the trial of a long and rapid i)ursuit than the remaining
multitude who drank more freely.

As regards the name Gilead (Judges vii. 3), it has been
found that from an early period the name Jalud or Jelden
has applied to the stream flowing down the Valley of Jezreel,
and it is suggested that the name Gilead, applying according
to the passage above cited to a mountain near this stream is
the true Hebrew form of the modern Arab Jalud and of the
Jelden which is mentioned in Egyptian documents.

A site long sought in connection with the history of Sam-
son, and also with the succeeding episode of the Danite
conquest of Laish, is that of the Mahaneh Dan, or " Camp-
mg place of Dan," which was " behind " {i.e., west of) Kir-
jath Jearim (Judges xviii. 12), and near Zoreah and Eshtaol.
These indications could not be reconciled with the site
usually proposed for Kirjath Jearim. It appeared probable
that the wide corn valley east of Samson's home was the
camping ground in question, but this is eight miles from
Kuriet el 'Anab, where Dr. Robinson places the famous city
Kirjath Jearim, the resting place for so many years of the Ark.

It has now been pointed out that this latter identification
rests on no surer basis than a fifth century tradition of
foreign origin, and wc are left free to seek the " town of
thickets" elsewhere. The survey identification points to a
ruin on a thickly covered ridge amongst copses and thickets,
to which the name 'Erma still applies, corresponding to the

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 115

latest form Arim, which took the place of the original
Ya'rim or Jearim (Ezra ii. 25). This ruin is distant only
three miles from the great valley towards which it looks
down. It lies close to the border of the lower hills and the
high Judean mountains, and it shows evidence of having
been an ancient site.

Close to the same vicinity the survey party fixed the
situation of Deir Aban, " The Convent of the Stone," which
St. Jerome identifies with the site of Ebenezer, "The Stone
of Help," a name so familiar to our ears as that of the
monument raised by Samuel to commemorate the great
victory over the Philistines (i Samuel vii. 12), and probably
marking the final limit of the pursuit.

The situation of the site seems to render the traditional
view not improbably correct, for the village stands at the
mouth of the great valley, down which undoubtedly the
Philistine hosts were driven, and just at the border which,
until the time of Solomon, appears to have divided the land
of the Philistines from the territory actually occupied by the
sons of Judah. (Sheet XVII.)

The history of Saul is elucidated by the survey in the re-
covery of Bezek, the mustering place of Israel (i Samuel
xi, 8). Jerome and Eusebius place this site, which is known
to have been near the centre of the country, at a certain
distance from Shechem on the road to Beisan. At this
exact distance on the ancient road the ruin Ibz'ik occurs on
the survey, and this is a case which, if we take into con-
sideration Mr. Grove's argument on the subject before this
discovery had been made, may fairly be considered to be
past dispute the recovery of a long lost site. (Sheet XII.)

The exact site of the great cliffs Seneh and Bozez,
which Jonathan climbed with his armour bearer {\ Sanuiel
xiv. 4), has been pointed out by the surveyors through
the aid of a remarkably exact description by Josephus of

II 2

ii6 TWENTY-ONE VEINS' WORK.

the site of the I'liilislinc c.un]). The name Scnch, " thorn
hush," given at a later period to the intervening valley (as
noticed by Josei)luis) is still recognizable in the present
Arab name of the same s])lendid gorge Wady Sira'eimt, or
" The Valley of the Little Thorntree." The name Eozez,
or ■' shining,"' is explained by the fact that it is that of the
northern cliff crowned by a mound of white chalky marl,
presenting a shining and conspicuous aspect, contrasting
strongly during the daytime with the dark shadow of the
southern precipice.

The fixing of this famous s])ot depends to a certain
extent on the •■ight allocation oi (libeah (of Saul or of
Benjamin), a site which Dr. Robinson transferred to the
old beacon i)latform called Tell el Fiil. There is not
here si)ace for the arguments connected with this question,
l)ut it may be noted that the Survey shows that Tell el
I'Til cannot have been the site of an ancient town.

The romantic adventures of David during llie time of
his exile and wanderings have received much important
illustration from the results of the survey. Elah, Sechu,
Adullam, (iath, Hareth, Hachilah, Sela-ham-Mahlekoth,
and Choresh Ziph are now pointed out with some degree of
certainty. Sites for the capital of the Cherethites, Ziklag,
( I Samuel xxx, 14) and for Nob have been jjroposed. Visiting
the ruins of the "hold" of .\dullam {'Aid-el-Ma), first
identified by M. Clermont (lanneau, the surve}-ors Ibund a
cave close to the niins of the ancient town, a cave suffi-
ciently large to have been the habitation ot David while his
band were ^rarrisoning the hold or fortress. Not many
miles away lies the broad corn vale where the she])herd boy
slew the giant with one of the smooth pebbles which still
nil the bed of tile winter torrent tlowing thnjugh the valley.
The various hidiiij; places to which the future King of
Israel retired o( < ur in consecutive order, each south of the

THE SURVEY OF WESTERX PALESTINE.

17

Wady Suweinit (Rock Kiiunion?]

Ii8 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

other, each further irom his native town, each in a country
more wildly desolate, more difficult of access than that
surrouncHng the preceding strongholds. The probable site
of the "Cliff of Divisions," Sela-ham-Mahlekoth, is the pre-
sent W ady Malfiky south of Hachilah {el Kola/i), and close
to the site of Maon {M'ahi). Here, in full sight of the
hunter, but protected by the mighty precipices of the gorge,
David was rescued by the sudden Philistine invasion which
compelled Saul to retreat just as the prey appeared to be
within his grasp (i Samuel xxiii. 26).

Among the most vexed questions of the later episode of
David's flight before Absalom was that of the site of Bahu-
rim (2 Samuel xvi. 5), where the spies lay hid in the cistern
covered by the corn (2 Samuel xvii. 7). It has been
assumed that David's flight across Olivet was directed along
the road leading by Bethany, but Bahurim belonged to
Benjamin, and was identified by the Jews of the fourth
century {see the Targum of Jonathan) with the later Almon,
or Alemeth, lying beside the ancient road which leads
across the saddle north of the principal summit of the
Mount of Olives. Captain Conder proposes to accept
this explaration, for the site of Almon {'Altnlt) is suffi-
ciently near to the "top of the hill" to render its identity
with Bahurim possible, while the existence of numerous
rock-cut cisterns with narrow mouths illustrates the incident
of the concealment of Jonathan and Ahimaaz, who " came
to a man's house in Bahurim which had a well in his court,
whither they went down, and a woman took and spread a
covering over the well's mouth and spread ground corn
thereon, and the thing was not known." (Sheet XVII.)

Among the illustrations of later Jewish history springing
from the survey, we may notice the discovery of wine presses
at Jczrcel, where no vines at present exist; the probable
identification of Teiasir, where the KinL;s of Israel were

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 119

buried, and the indication of a possible site for Megiddo at
the important ruin Mujedd'a. The topography of the
apochryphal Book of Judith is now shown to be quite pos-
sible, and the famous city Bethulia has been located in a
position answering every known requisite at the modern
village of MWiilia. A curious but important distinction
may now be made between Tipsah or Thapsacus, on
Euphrates, and the Tiphsah where Menahem so cruelly
avenged himself on rebellious subjects (2 Kings xv. i6j.
At a time when the King of Israel was a tributary of the
Assyrian monarch it seemed highly improbable that Hebrew-
conquests should have extended to Euphrates, and an
ancient ruin called Tafsah still existing south of Shechem
seems more probably the site of the rebellious city, which
refused to submit to the usurper Menahem after his conquest
of Samaria and Tirzah. (Sheet XIV.)

The victories and defeats of Judas Maccabseus are in like
manner illustrated by recent discovery. The site of the
great battle in which he lost his life has been variously
placed near Ashdod, and north of Jerusalem. The identiti-
cation of Eleasa (Ilasa), Berea (Bireh), Berzetho (Bir ez
Zeit), and Mount Azotus near the last, now show that the
])osition which he occupied was originally intended to inter-
cept the retreat of Bacchides by an advance from Modin —
the native town of the Hasmoneans — on the narrow pass
through which the road from Samaria to Jerusalem leads in
the vicinity of 'Ain el Haramiyeh. (Sheet XVII.)

The site of the famous battle of Adasa in like manner is
found at a spot where the two main lines of advance on
Jerusalem from the north join one another; and the first
campaign of Judas, as is now clearly evident, consisted in the
defence of the three main passes leading from the north-west,
the west, and south-west to the Holy City.

Turning from the Old Testament history to the study of

I20 TWENTV-ONE YEARS' WOKE.

the topography of the Gospels, it will he found that the
survey of Palestine has not been without imi)ortant results
in illustration of the life of Christ. New information has
been collected as to Bethabara, Emmaus, /Knon, Sychar,
Antijjatris, Capernaum, Cana, and Calvary.

The identification of iMnniaus is another instance of the
importance of minute examination of the ground. 'J"he
district where the sui)posed site is found was fairly well
known, hut the ruin hidden in a well-watered valley
among gardens of lemon and orange had not previously
been explored. It was generally recognised by scholars
that the Emmaus, where Christ supped with two dis-
ciples, could not be the same as the famous Emmaus
Nicopolis where Judas conquered the Greeks.

The latter city was i6o stadia from Jerusalem, but the
village Emmaus, where Herod's soldiers were settled, was
both according to St. Luke, and according to Josephus,
only 60 stadia distant from the capital. The name Emmaus
is a corruption of the Hebrew KJuDninath, a " hot spring,"
applied to medicinal springs, even when not ot very high
temperature, as at Emmaus Nicopolis. The ruin which
has now been found at nearly the exact distance (60 stadia)
from Jerusalem is called Khaiuasa, thus representing the
vulgar pronunciation of the Hebrew original. Ancient rock-
cut sepulchres and a causeway mark the site as being of
considerable anti([uity, and the vicinity is still remarkable
for its fine supply of spring water. Among the numerous
sites proposed for Emmaus there is none which has so
many argvm'.ents ui its favour as has the new discovery of
the survey party. (.Sheet XVU.)

With respect to A\w()W and Sychar, the surveyors have
only confirmed the views advocated by Dr. Robinson and
Canon Williams. The existence of " much water " and of
open ground suitable for the assembly of a crowd has now

rilE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 121

been pointed out in the vicinity of the village SAlim or
Salem, and of the ruin 'Ainun or ^non.

Of the numerous sites previously proposed there is no
other which unites every requisite of name and water su]>i)ly.
Other ^■Enons exist far from any Salem, and other Salems in
water districts where no name ^non is found; but in the
Great Wady Far'ah, which, starting at Shechem, formed the
north boundary of Judea, in the Jordan valle}', we find a
site which appears to satisfy every requirement and to agree
well with the new identification of Bethabara. (Sheet XII.)

As regards Sychar, Canon Williams has argued in favour
of the village 'Askar, close to Jacob's well — a hamlet
apparently overlooked by Robinson. The survey investi-
gations have shown that the ancient Samaritan name of thi.i
village closely approached to the Hebrew Sychar. and the
error first made by the Crusaders, who confounded Sychar
with Shechem, and which has subsequently been adopted
by Dr. Robinson, in spite of the evidence of the early
travellers of the fourth to the seventh centuries, and which
has found its way into the pages of Canon Farrar's " Life of
Christ," may now be corrected through the explorations
which prove the antiquity and ancient name of the village
'Askar near Jacob's well. (Sheet XI.)

As regards Bethsaida the evidence is purely negative, no
trace of the name of the supposed Gahlean Bethsaida
having been found. The theory that two Bethsaidas
existed on the shores of the Sea of G.ililee was originated
by the learned Reland, and has been adopted by many
authorities. Captain Conder, however, agrees with Renan
and Robinson in supposing that only one site of that name
existed, namely, the village afterwards named Julias, east
of the Jordan and not far from its mouth.

As regards Crq)ernaum, the authorities are still divided into
two parties. Captain Conder nnd Lieutenant Kitchener

122

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

agree with Robinson, Renan, and many others in jilacing
this city at the ruin Minyeh (the "town of the Minim" or
Christian heretics who are called in the Talmud " Sons of
Capernaum "). Colonel Wilson, R.E., has, however, clearly
shown that from the fourth century down. Tell Hum has
been the traditional site of this town, and assumes that the
Christian tradition is correct. Much still remains to be
done to elucidate this subject ; careful levels along a line of
aqueducts are required, and excavations at Minyeh are very
desirable.

.> -

"1 V > •■/-

Colonnade at Samaria.

A site which, though not scriptural, was of much import-
ance for the understanding of the topography of the Sea of
Galilee, was recovered by Lieutenant Kitchener in the
modern Sinn-en-Nabra, the ancient Sinnabris. This dis-
covery supports the generally received identification of the
important town of Tarichea (Kerak), which owing to a mis-

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 123

conception has been placed on recent maps north instead
of south of Tiberias.

The question of the boundaries of Samaria in the time ot
Christ is one not a Httle important to the understanding of
His journeys through Pertea. By the recovery of Anuath
{'Aina), Borceos (Berkit), Antipatris, Beth-Rima, and other
places, we have been able for the first time to lay down the
line of the border between Judaea and Samaria with con-
siderable accuracy of detail, and to show the necessity of
the journey across Jordan in passing from Galilee to
Jerusalem (Mark x. i ).

Without entering into the famous controversy as to the
site of Calvary, it should be noticed that an important piece
of novel information bearing on the question has been
collected during the course of the survey. The place of
execution used by the Jews before the destruction of
Jerusalem, and called in the Talmud Beth-has-Sekilah, or
the " house of stoning," is still shown by their modern
descendants outside the Damascus gate north of the city.
To Christians it is known as the cliff of Jeremiah's grotto,
in consequence of a tradition which is only traceable as
far back as the fifteenth century. The fact that a precipice
is mentioned (in the Talmudic account of the punishment
of stoning) as existing at the place of execution appears
to confirm the tradidon. Ihis spot has according to
modern authorities always been outside Jerusalem, and some
travellers think they have observed a skull-like formation
in the hill-top above the cave such as the early fathers
often attribute to Golgotha. That Christ was executed
according to Roman custom rather than the Jewish is
certain ; but there is no reason to suppose that Jerusalem
possessed two places of execution at the time— the con-
servatism of the east would indeed point to an opposite
conclusion. If the Jewish tradition be trustworthy we see

124 riVENTY-ONK YEARS' WORK.

ill tlic site llnis recovered an identification which possesses
ill a high degree a claim on our attention, as one of the
most important that can be expected in Palestine.

'J'he discoveries thus far described have been mainly
topographical, as must be naturally expected from the
character of the work undertaken. The survey party,
however, enjoyed unusual opportunities for the study of
the manners and customs of the native peasantry and of
the Bedawin, in districts where a Frank had sometimes
never been seen before ; and from this intimate inter-
course many interesting results were obtained in illus-
tration of the manners and customs of the lower classes
as described in the Bible. A detailed account of many
of these discoveries will be found in the last chapters of
"Tent Work in Palestine," published by the Committee,
which are devoted to the description of various nation-
alities to be found in Syria.

The anticjuity of the native peasant stock is evidenced
both by their language and by the peculiarities of their
religion. Their pronunciation of many letters is archaic,
and approaches much closer to the Aramaic or to the
Hebrew than to modern Arabic. There are also many pure
Hebrew- words in use among the Fellahin which are uiiiiitL-l-
ligible to the inhabitants of towns who use the modern
Arabic words instead. The worship of Mukams or
" Shrines " among the peasantry is also intimately connected
with the old worshi[) of trees and high j)laces by the
Canaanites, although the traditions attaching to these sacred
places are traceable to Crusading, Byzantine, or Moslem
origin, as well as in other cases to an older indigenous source.

In manners, customs, and dress, the peasantry recall the
incidental notices of the same population in i)re-Christian
times. The " round tires like the moon," against which
Isaiah declaimed, are still worn by the women of Samaria.

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE.

125

Like Jezebel, they still paint their faces ; like Elijah, the
men still gird up their loins. The " corner of the field " is
still left for the poor, and a tithe of corn for the Levite (or
Derwish). The harvest customs and methods of tillage are
unchanged ; the olives are still beaten down with a rod.
These are but single instances of the numerous scriptural
expressions which are now illustrated by the customs of the
Syrian peasantry. The nomadic life of the early patriarchs
is in the same way illustrated by the manners of the Bedawin
of the deserts, and, as above stated, the settled and pastoral
districts retain the same relative position as in earlier times.

Tell es Safl (Cath ?).

To sum up, therefore, as to the value of this Survey
to the world at large. Not onXy has there been a very-
great extension of the known sites, but, for the fust

126 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' IVOR A'.

time, the natural features of the countn'liavc been laid
down in exact detail, so that the reader of the Bible
may now follow step by step the events of which he
reads. It is no longer with him a cjuestion as to which
route might have been followed ; he sees which route
must have been followed, he need no longer, to
arrive at the true distances from place to place, follow
Robinson, Guerin, and the rest, in their tedious " two
hours to the east, then an hour and a quarter to the
north-east," and so forth ; he can simpl\- take a com-
pass and measure the exact distance. ]\Iore than
this, he can follow on the map the route which must
have been taken in any expedition. If again he
will turn from the map to the memoirs he will learn
the character of the countr}- and its fertility, its
ancient vineyards, terraced hills, and olive presses, its
modern forests, its fountains — in one sheet alone of
the map there are 200 fountains, — and its flora.
Again, if he wishes to study the history of the country-
subsequent to that of the Bible, he will find how one
ruin stands upon another, and that upon an older ruin
still ; so that even in Joshua's time tlicre were alread}-
ruins in the land ; how you ma}- find the mosque built
from the materials of the church, the church from
those of the synagogue, or the Turkish fort from the
Crusading castle, the castle from the monastery, the
monastery from the Roman walls.

It ma}- in short, be fairl}- claimed for the Surve}- of

THE SURVEY OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 127

Western Palestine that nothing has ever been done fo7-
the illustration and right nndersta7iding of tJie historical
portions of the Old and Nezv Testament, since the
translation into the vulgar tongue, zvhich may be com-
pared with this great ivork. The officer whose name
is especially associated with these maps and memoirs
has made himself a name which will last as long as
there are found men and women to read and study
the Sacred Books.

128

CHAPTER VII.

THK ARCH.'EOLOGICAL EXPEDITION.

In the autumn of the year 1873 the Committee found
themselves able to secure the services of M. Cler-
mont Cianncau for an archaeological expedition.
He received general instructions to look about him
and observe and report upon whatever he saw. He
undertook to work for the Socict)- for one )'car. He
was accompanied b}' M. Lecomte for the purpose of
executing architectural drawings.

The following are the principal discoveries which
rewarded his labours : —

1. The ancient Jewish cemetery of Jaffa. One of

the epitai)hs in marble is now in the Socict}''s
collection.

2. The identification of a head in marble found in

Jerusalem with the head of Hadrian's statue
set up on the site of the Holy of Holies. A
cast of the head is in our possession. It has
been figured in the (2iiartcrly Stattinciit, and
in the Memoirs, p. 207, 1874.

THE ARCH^OLOGICAL EXPEDITION. 129

3. The finding and deciphering of inscriptions on

certain Juda;o Christian sarcophagi on the
Mount of Offence. It is remarkable that
these inscriptions, which were discovered
close to the Bethany road, contain the name
of Lazarus, Martha, and Simon. They in-
clude : Judah Salome, wife of Judah ; Judah,
the scribe ; Simeon the son of Jesus
(Bar-Jeshuo) ; Martha, daughter of Pasach ;
Eleazer (of which Lazarus is the Greek form),
son of Nathan ; Judah, son of Hananiah ;
Salam Isim, daughter of Simon the Priest ;
Salampsion.

4. Proposed identification of the Stone of Bohan

with the Hajar el Asbah. (Memoirs, Western
Survey, Vol. IIL, p. 199.)

5. The discovery (simultaneously with Mr. C. F.

Tyrwhitt Drake) of the great forgery of the
so-called Moabite inscriptions. {Qiiartcr/y
Statement, 1869, 1874, and 1878.)

6. The indication of the " taille mediaevale," or

mediaeval method of dressing stones for

building.
This discovery is especially useful in a country
where there are ruins of every age, and where a
question of identification may turn upon the date of a
building.

7. Finding of an ancient cemetery north of the city.

1

I30

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Section, cm A£.C.

State

feet 10 £■

1 I I 1 I

K

i - -■

W

SO

It)

Tomb of Simon the Just.

8. Examination of many sepulchral chambers.
g. Examination of a great series of rock-cut

chambers west of the Ecce Homo Church.
lO. Recovery of Adullam.
The site of Adullam and its caves, one of the most

THE ARCH^OLOGICAL EXPEDITION.

131

interesting sites of the Holy Land, had been variously
placed. M. Ganneau has found the very name in a
somewhat altered form, Aid-el-ma, attached to a
site which singularly corresponds with the necessities
of the narrative, and seems to make David's history
at the period connected with Adullam clear and
intelligible. (Memoirs, Western Survey, Vol. III.
p. 361.)

El Medyeh.

II. Drawings by M. Lecomte (over a thousand

in number) of monuments and places visited

by M. Ganneau. These represent among

other things, architectural work in the Dome

of the Rock and in the Haram Area.

I 2

132 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' IVOR A'.

12. Greek, Hebrew and Phoenician inscriptions.

13. The stone of Bcthphage. Figured in the

Quarterly Statement, p. 51, 1878.

14. The vase of Bezetha.

This beautiful and unique vase found by M. Ganneau
lying shattered on the rock was completely put
together, and is now in the Society's office at i, Adam
Street. Its date is said to be about that of Herod.
The ornamentation is pagan.

15. Examination of the ruins of Medyeh, the

Maccabaean Modin. (Memoirs, Western

Survey, Vol. H., p. 341.)
M. Ganneau's letters appeared in the Quarterly
Statement of 1874. His collections are all in the
Society's exhibition now at South Kensington. Among
previous discoveries made by this explorer when not
connected with the Society may be mentioned, —

1. His discovery of the stone of Herod's Temple

with the Greek inscription, word for word as
given by Josephus.

2. His .securing of the large fragments of the

Moabite stone.

3. His theory of what was done with the veil of

the Temple.

4. Examination of the ancient tombs existing

under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
These have also been planned by Sir
Charles Wilson.

1^3

CHAPTER VIIL

THE SURVEY OF EASTERN PALESTINE.

The present condition of our knowledge as regards
Eastern Palestine was described in the year 1880 [see
Quarterly Statement, Januar}-, 1881), before the
survey was commenced.

It resembles very much that of Western Palestine when the
survey was first commenced. The country has been visited
by many travellers who have described its general features
and many of its ruined cities. Among these travellers may
be mentioned Burckhardt, Seetzen, Wetzstein, Irby and
Mangles, Lord Lindsay, De Vogiie, Waddington, De
Luynes, Porter, Costigan, Lynch, Molyneux, Robinson,
Cyril Czraham, Thomson, Tipping, Tristram, MacGregor,
Eaton, Zeller, Wilson and Anderson, Warren, Burton,
Drake, Palmer, Socin, Steever, Merrill, Klein, Freshfield
and Oliphant.

Our own expeditions under Lieutenant Warren and those
of the American Exploration Society east of Jordan have
made reconnaissances which will facilitate the work now
i:)roposed.

The country to be surveyed comprises the following dis-
tricts or provinces : —

I. Bashan, the "level" land, which extends from tlie
southern slopes of Mount Hermon to Gilead on the south,
the southern frontier being the River Hieromax, now called

134 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

the Nahr Yarmuk or the Sheriat el Mandhur. Bashan is
subdivided into : —

a. Jetur (Itursea), now called Jedur, of which Philip
was tetrarch (Luke iii. i), named after Jetur, the
son of Ishmael (Genesis xxv. 15, 16). It was
conquered by the Manassites (i Chronicles v.
18-23), who lived there until the Captivity. This
country contains the southern and eastern slopes
of Hermon and the table-land eastward.

h. The district named after the city of Golan (Gaula-
nitis) now called Jaulan. This is a table-land
rising by terraces from the Jordan Valley. The
city (Joshua xx, 8), which gave a name to the dis-
trict, has yet to be identified. Dr. Porter says
that there are a hundred and twenty-seven ruined
towns in it, among them the ancient towns of
Aphek, Gergesa, Bethsaida, Hippos, Gamala and
Ashtaroth.

c. The Hauran (Auranitis), a level land, with the ruins
of 150 towns, the buildings of which are still re-
maining in good preservation, many of them with
roofs, doors, and window shutters, all of stone and
still in their places. A vast number of Greek and
Roman inscriptions have been collected in this
district. Those found by MM. de Vogiie and
Waddington have been published in de Vogue''s
magnificent work on the architecture and archae-
ology of Central Syria.

d. The Argob or Trachonitis, now called el Lejah,
which is, correctly, a part of the Hauran. This
formed part of the kingdom of Og (Deuteronomy
iii. 4, 5), when it held threescore cities "fenced
with high walls." Remains of more than sixty
cities have been found here, but it has been

THE SURVEY OF EASTERN PALESTINE. 135

but little visited of late, and never completely
explored.
e. East of the Hauran is the district of Batansa con-
taining the Hill of Bashan. This country is that
of the Maachathites (Deuteronomy iii. 14; Joshua
xii. 5 ; 2 Samuel x. 6 ; i Chronicles xix. 7).

II. The land of Gilead, including territory allotted to
the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and part of Manasseh, extend-
ing southwards as far as the river Arnon.

III. Moab, whose principal cities are Dibon (where the
Moabite stone was found), Rabbath Moab, and Kir Haraseth.

The following are some of the Biblical events connected
with this part of the country : —

The battles of the "four kings against five" (Genesis xiv.
1-12); the destruction of the Cities of the Plain; the
meeting of Jacob and Laban ; that of Jacob and Esau ;
Jacob's vision at Mahanaim ; the wrestling at Penuel ; the
conquest of Sihon by Moses ; the battle of Edrei ; the
" Pisgah View ; " the death and burial of Moses ; the story
of Balak and Baalam ; the division of the land among the
two and a-half tribes ; the establishment of the three Leviti-
cal cities ; the wars of the Manassites and Gadites with the
Hagarites ; the pursuit of Gideon ; the revolt and victories
of Jephthah ; the wars of David against Ammon ; the
flight of SauFs sons, and that of David ; the campaigns of
Ahab and his son Joram with their allies, Jehoshaphat and
Ahaziah ; the wars with Moab ; the birth of Elijah ; the in-
vasion of Tiglath Pilezer and of Hazael, and the captivity
of the tribes.

Here is the River Arnon, the boundary between Moab
and the Amorites, on whose banks stood Aroer, and the
mysterious city " in the midst of the river." Here are
Heshbon, the capital of Sihon, not far from Jahaz, where

136 TWENTY-ONE YEAR ST WORK.

that king met with his overthrow ; Rabbath Ammon, the
one city belonging to the Ammonites, besieged by Joab, and
taken by David ; Ramoth Gilead, which played so great a
part in the wars between the SjTians and the kingdom of
Judah ; Gadara, whose modern inhabitants, like the de-
moniacs of the miracle which associates the city with the
New Testament, dwell in the ancient tombs ; Bcthsaida
Julias, the scene of the miracle of Mark vi. 31-53;
Coesarea Philippi, the northernmost point of Our Lord's
wanderings, where Herod built his temple of white marble j
Damascus, with the rivers Pharphar and Abana ; the Bozrah
of Jeremiah xlviii. 24 ; the river Jabbok, where Esau and
Jacob met, the boundary of the Ammonites ; Machserus,
where John the Baptist was beheaded ; Callirrhoe, whither
Herod the Great repaired in hopes of recovery from his
disease. On this side are also the great palace of Hyrcanus
(Arak el Emir) ; the unfinished palace of Chosroes the
Second (Mashita) ; the fortress of Kerak, where Mesha
sacrificed his son ; and Dibon. We must not forget, also,
that it was on this side that the Christian Church found
a refuge during the troubled times of the siege by Titus,

The expedition for the survey of Eastern Palestine
reached Beyrout on the 29th March, 1881, and having
to wait for instruments. Captain Conder, with whom
was Lieutenant Mantell, R.E., made a survey north
and discovered (see p. i ^^'j) the long lost Kadesh of
the Hittites. After visiting Baalbek, Homs and other
places, the party moved southward with the intention
of continuing the survey in the south. T)rc was
examined, and the "Egyptian Harbour" was dis-
covered and traced. The ancient T)'rian cemetery

\7ofacf p. 137.

DIAGRAM OF TRIANGULATION

SHEWING CONNECTION
WITH

WESTERN SURVEY.

.KURN SARTABEH

\\
\\
\\

> \
\ \

J.OSHA

.HALElUfEH

KHULDEH.

.ELHAUD

\

•iMESHEIKFEH

T/IIHIH

"1 "■- \

'kSr el rAHUD

U.EHD OF BASE\

BirEHf-

^S.END^Or. BASE
'^JELVL

*TELL KAIH

REFERENCE.
Solid LiKti Hen A A

Dotted lines Old £r- A

THE SURVEY OF EASTERN PALESTINE. i?7

was found, a probable site was discovered for the
Temple of Melkath, and the mounds of Neby Mashuk
and Tell Habish were examined.

After some delays, caused by the unsettled state of
the country. Captain Conder was able to cross the
Jordan and begin the survey. It was hoped that the
old firman, with which the Society had worked for so
long, would continue to be respected. The hope,
however, proved to be ill-founded. Within a month
after their arrival Captain Conder received a
peremptory message from the Governor of El Salt,
that the survey could not be allowed to be carried on,
and that he must take his party back again. By
interposing delays. Captain Conder succeeded in
getting ten weeks' work in the country, and when he
was at length obliged to return, it was with laden
hands, for he had surveyed 500 square miles, and
brought back hundreds of drawings, with the materials
for a whole volume of memoirs.

Among the more important results were : —

I. Identifications.

1. The Field of Zophim (Numbers xxiii. 14.)

2. The Ascent of Luhith (Jeremiah xlviii. 5).

3. Jazer (Joshua xiii. 25).

4. Sibmah (Numbers xxxii. 3, 38).

5. Minnith (Judges xi. 33).

6. Bamoth Baal.

7. Baal Peor.

138

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

II. Ancient Monuments.

I. Cromlechs, and other rude stone monuments.
Of these hundreds were found and sketched.

Cromlech near Hesbon.

They occur for the most part in groups, and in
connection with some are certain curious rock-
cut chambers.
2. Ruins. The most important are those of
Amman and Arak-El-Emir. At the former

THE SUR VE V OF EASTERN PALESTINE. 1 39

place Captain Conder sketched and planned a
remarkable building, hitherto called Byzantine,
which now turns out to be Persian. Two
hundred ruins were examined.

3. Names. Six hundred names were collected.

4. Examination of Sites. The principal sites
examined were those of Heshbon Elealah,
Medeba, Baal Meon, Nebo, and Pisgah.

Every attempt to obtain a firman has hitherto
proved unavailing, so that the survey of Eastern
Palestine would seem impossible. However, within
the last few months we have been able, through the
accident of survey work being required for other
purposes, to get a few hundred miles in addition,
which will be added to our map. And if, as seems
probable, we do not get our firman we shall lose no
opportunity of carrying on the survey by small pieces,
and as occasion offers.

I40

CHAPTER IX.

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

The Geological Survey laid down in our original
prospectus has been accomplished by Prof. Edward
Hull, F.R.S.

The expedition was undertaken in the winter of
1883-4. The party consisted of Prof. Hull, and
his son, Dr. Gordon Hull. Major Kitchener accom-

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 141

panied the party in order to make a survey of the
Wady Arabah. He was assisted by Mr. George
Armstrong. Mr. E. Chichester Hart, formerly
naturahst to Sir George Nares's voyage to the Arctic
regions, went with them as naturalist, but at his own
expense, and Mr. Reginald Laurence also accompanied
the party at his own charges.

The results of the expedition have been thus
summed up by Prof. Hull : —

1. A complete triangulation of the district lying between
the mountains of Sinai and the Wady el Arabah, together
with that of the Wady el Arabah itself, bounded on the
west by the tableland of the Tih, and on the east by the
mountains of Edom and Moab. This was entirely the work
of Major Kitchener, and his assistant Mr. G. Armstrong
(formerly Sergeant-Major R.E.). An outline survey along
the line of route was also made, and has been laid down in
MS. on a map prepared by Mr. Armstrong on the same
scale as the reduced Map of Palestine, viz., | inch to one
statute mile, or tgsWo-

2. Some important rectifications of the borders of the
Salt Sea, and of the Gulf of Akabah, were also made.

3. A geological reconnaissance along the line of route
through the districts of Sinai, Akabah, and the Wady el
Arabah, including the following particulars : —

(rt) Collections of fossils from the Wady Nasb lime-
stone ; additions to those already made by Mr. Bauerman
and Colonel Sir C. W. Wilson. These fossils (which are
being examined by Prof Sollas) go to show that this
limestone is of Carboniferous age. The Wady Nasb lime-
stone was found to continue over a considerable region
north of Mount Sinai, and was again recognised amongst

142 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

the mountains of Moab on the east side of the Salt Sea in
the Wady el Hessi. As this limestone rests upon a red
sandstone foundation, this latter may also be assumed to be
of the same geological age, and therefore cannot be the
representative of the " Nubian Sandstone " of Rosiere,
which (as Prof Zittel has shown) is of Cretaceous age.
I propose to call this formation, therefore, " the Desert
Sandstone." It forms, with the limestone, a strip along the
borders of the ancient rocks of Paleozoic, or Archaean, age,
and is about 400 feet in average thickness ; the base is
generally a conglomerate.

ip) Above the Wady Nasb limestone is another sand-
stone formation, of which a large portion of the Debbet er
Ramleh is formed. It is laid open in the Wadies Zelegah,
Biyar, &c., and along the mountains of Edom and Moab.
Out of this rock have been hewn the ancient temples,
tombs, and dwellings of Petra and the Wady Musa. It
stretches along the southern escarpment of the Tib plateau,
and forms the base of the limestone cliffs along the margin
of the Wady el Arabah as far north as Nagb es Salni. This
sandstone formation is soft, red, or beautifully variegated.
It is (in all probability) of Cretaceous age, and, if so, the
true representative of the " Nubian Sandstone " of Russeger.
It will thus be seen that there are two red sandstone
formations, one below, the other above the Carboniferous
limestone of the Wady Nasb.

{c) The geological structure of the Wady el Arabah was
examined throughout a distance of 120 miles from south to
north. That it has been hollowed out along the line of a
main fault (or line of fracture and displacement) ranging
from the eastern shore of the Salt Sea to that of the Gulf of
Akabah, was clearly determined. The position of the fault
itself was made out and laid down on the map* in six or

* The map used was an enlarged plan from Smith and Groves'
Ancient Atlas (J. Murray).

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 143

seven places ; one being about ten miles north of Akabah,
another near the watershed, in which places the limestone
of the Tih (Cretaceo-nummulitic) is faulted against the old
porphyritic and metamorphic rocks, as illustrated by the
section across the Arabah Valley, given in a previous
page (p. 77).

There are numerous parallel and branching faults along
the Arabah Valley, but there is one leading fracture running
along the base of the Edomite Mountains, to which the
others are of secondary importance: this may be called
" the Great Jordan Valley fault." The relations of the
rocks in The Ghor and Jordan Valley have already been
shown by Lartet, Tristram, Wilson, and others, to indicate
the presence of a large fault corresponding with the line of
this remarkable depression, and the author considers the
fracture he has observed in the Arabah Valley to be con-
tinuous with that of the Jordan.

{d) The ancient rocks which form the floor either of the
Desert, or Nubian, Sandstone formations, consist of granite,
gneiss, porphyries, and more rarely of metamorphic schists
— together with volcanic rocks, consisting of agglomerates,
tuffs, and beds of felspathic trap. The author is disposed
to concur with Dr. Lartet in considering the gneissose and
granitoid rocks to be of Archaean (or Laurentian) age, as
they are probably representative of those of Assouan in
Upper Egypt, which Prof. Sir J. W. Dawson has recently
identified with those of this age.* The granites and
porphyries are traversed by innumerable dykes of porphyry
and diorite both throughout the Sinaitic mountains and
those of Edom and Moab ; and the author considers it
probable that the volcanic rocks which are largely repre-
sented along the bases of Mount Hor, and of Jebel es

* Dawson has shown, however, that there are two metamorphic
series in Upper Egypt. Geol. Magazine^ October, 1884.

144 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Somrah near Es Safieh, are contemporaneous with these
dykes. As far as the author was able to observe, none of
these dykes i)enetrate the Desert or Nubian Sandstones,
and, if so, tliey may be considered of pre-Carboniferous age.
The upper surface of the ancient rocks was originally
extremely uneven, having been worn and denuded into
ridges and hollows, previous to the deposition of the Desert
Sandstone ; over this irregular floor the sandstone strata
were deposited.

4. The occurrence of terraces of marl, gravel, and silt,
through which the ravines of existing streams have been cut
at an elevation (according to aneroid determination) of
about 100 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, was
taken to show that the level of the Salt Sea (Bahr Lut) at
one time stood. about 1,400 feet higher than at present-
These beds of marl were first observed at the camp at 'Ain
Abu Beweireh ; they contain blanched shells of the genera
Melanopsis and Melanin. The beds of marl were observed
to be enclosed by higher ground of more ancient strata in
every direction except towards the north, where they gently
slope downwards towards the borders of The Ghor, and
become incorporated with strata of the 600 feet terrace.

5. The author concurs with Dr. Lartet in thinking that
the waters of the Jordon Valley did not flow down into the
Gulf of Akabah after the land had emerged from the sea ;
the disconnection of the inner and outer waters was very
ancient, dating back to Miocene times.

6. The occurrence of beds of ancient lakes — consisting
of coarse gravel, sand, and marl — amongst the mountains of
Sinai, and in the Wady el Arabah, where now only waterless
valleys occur, taken in connection with other phenomena,
have impressed the author with the conviction that the
former climatic conditions of Arabia Petrsa were very
different from those of the present day. Such terraces have

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. T45

been observed by Dr. Post in the Wady Feiran, and Colonel
Sir vV. Wilson in the Wady Solaf, and by the author in the
Wadies Gharandel, Goweisah, Hamr, Solaf and Es Sheikh or
Watiyeh. It would appear that, at a period coming down
probably to the prehistoric, a chain of lakes existed amongst
the tortuous valleys and hollows of the Sinaitic peninsula.
The Gypseous deposits of Wady Amarah and 'Ain Hawareh
are considered to be old lake beds, and Mr. Bauerman has
observed remains of fresh-water shells {LymtKBa truncatula)
and a species of Pisidium in "lake or river alluvium " of
the Wadies Feiran and Es Sheikh {Quart. Jour. Geol.
Soc., Vol. XXV., p. 35.)

7. The author considers it probable that these ancient
Sinaitic lakes belong to an epoch when the waters of the
Mediterranean and of the Red Sea rose to a level consider-
ably higher than at present ; and when, consequently, there
was less fall for the inland waters in an outer direction. The
evidence of a submergence, to a depth of a least 200 feet, is
abundantly clear in the occurrence of raised beaches or
sea beds with shells, corals, and crinoids, of species still
living in the adjoining waters. The raised beaches of the
Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts have been observed by
the officers of the Ordnance Survey, and by Fraas, Lartet,
Schweinfurth, Post, and others. They were observed by
members of the Expedition at the southern extremity of the
Wady el Arabah, and shells and corals were found round the
camp of the 3rd December at an elevation of about 130 feet
above the Gulf of Akabah.

These ancient sea beds are represented in the Egyptian
area by the old coast-line of 220 feet, discovered by Fraas
along the flanks of the Mokattam Hills above Cairo, and
recently described by Schweinfurth. (Uber die geol.
schichtungliederung de. Mokattam bei Cairo ; Zeit. d.
Deuts. Geol. Gcssel, 1883.) The period in which the sea

K

146 TWENTY-ONE Yf.ARS' WORK.

rose to this level may be stated in general terms as the
Pliocene, but it continued downwards till more recent times ;
and the author believes that at the time of the Exodus the
Gulf of Suez reached as far as the Great Bitter Lake
{Quarterly Statement^ April, 1884). It is scarcely necessary
to observe that throughout the longer portion of this period
of submergence Africa was disconnected from Asia.

8. The Miocene period is not represented by any strata
throughout the district traversed by the Expedition. The
author considers that in this part of the world the Miocene
period was one of elevation, disturbance, and denudation of
strata, not of accumulation. To this epoch he refers the
emergence of the whole of the Palestine, and of the greater
part of the Sinaitic areas, from the sea^ in -whiih the
Cretaceo-nummulitic limestone formations were deposited.
To the same e{)och also he considers the faulting and
flexuring of the strata is chiefly referable \ and notably the
formation of the great Jordanic line of fault, with its branches
and accompanying flexurings of the strata — which are very
remarkable along the western sides of The Ghor. These
phenomena were accompanied and followed by extensive
denudation, and the production of many of the principal
physical features of the region referred to.

9. The evidences of a Pluvial period throughout this
region are to be found (a) in the remains of ancient lake
beds, {b') in the existence of terraces in the river valleys,
(^) in the great size and depth of many valleys and gorges,
now waterless except after severe thunderstorms, and {d) in
the vastly greater size of the Salt Sea (or Dead Sea), which
must have had a length of nearly 200 English miles from
north to south, at the time when its surface was at a higher
level than that of the Mediterranean at the present day.
The author considers that this Pluvial period extended from
the Pliocene through the post-Pliocene (or Glacial) down

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 14

to recent times. As it is known, from the observations of
Sir J. D. Hooker, Canon Tristram, and others, that
perennial snow and glaciers existed in the Lebanon during
the Glacial epoch, the author infers that the adjoining
districts to the south of the Lebanon must have had a
climate approaching that of the British Isles at the present
day ; and that, in a region of which many parts are over
2,000 feet in elevation, there must have been abundant
rainfall. Even when the snows and glaciers of the Lebanon
had disappeared, the effects of the colder climate which was
passing away may be supposed to have remained for some
time, and the vegetation to have been more luxuriant down
to within the epoch of human habitation. The author's
views generally coincide with those of Theobold Fisher, as
extended by him to a mucii wider area (Studien iiber das
Klima der Mediterranean Lander," Peterman's Mittheilun-
gen, 1879).

10. The author considers that there a^e reasons for
concluding that the outburst of volcanic phenomena in
North-Eastern Palestine in tiie region of the jaulan and
Hauran, &c., has an indirect connection with the formation
of the great Jordan Sea of the Pluvial period. The presence
of water in considerable volume is now recognised as
necessary to volcanic activity, and the author submits that
this interdependence was brought about when the waters of
the Lake stretched as far north as the little Lake of Huleh.
These waters, under a pressure of several hundred feet,
would find their way into the interior of the earth's crust
along the lines of the great Jordan Valley fnult, and of its
branches, and thus supply the necessary "steam power" for
volcanic action. The period when the volcanoes of the
Jaulan and Hauran were in action ap])ears to have ranged
from the Pliocene through the post-Pliocene to the beginning
of the recent ; when, concurrently with the faUing away and

K 2

148 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

partial drying up of the waters of the great inland sea, the
volcanic fires became extinct and the outpourings of basaltic
lava ceased to flow.

If these views are correct, it would seem that during the
(}lacial e}^och, Palestine and Southern Syria presented an
aspect very different from the present. The Lebanon
throughout the year was snow-clad over its higher elevations,
while glaciers descended into some of its valleys. The
region of the Hauran, lying at its Southern base, was the
site of several extensive volcanoes, while the district around,
and the Jordon Valley itself, was invaded by floods of lava.
A great inland sea, occupying the Jordon Valley, together
with the existing comparatively restricted sheets of water,
extended from Lake Huleh on the north, to a southern
margin near the base of Samrat Piddan in the Wady el
Arabah of the present day, while numerous arms and bays
stretched into the glens and valleys of Palestine and Moab
on either hand. Under such climatic conditions, we may
feel assured a luxuriant vegetation decked with verdure the
hills and vales of Palestine and Arabia Petrsea to an extent
far beyond that of the present ; and amongst the trees, as
Sir J. D. Hooker has shown, the cedar may have spread far
and wide.

II. The author has not thought it necessary to go into
the question of the origin of the salinity of the Salt Sea, as
this question is now fully understood. He is obliged to
differ witii Dr. Lartet in his view of the origin of the salt
mountain, Jebel Usdum,* which he (the author), as also
Mr. Hart, regards as a portion of the bed of the Salt Sea,
when it stood about 600 feet above its present level. This
level exactly corresponds to that of the terraces, both along
vhe south and east of the Ghor, formed of lacrustine

* Lartet regards the strata of this mountain as belonging to the
NuTQmulitic period.

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 149

materials. The upper surface of Jebel Usdum was examined
by Messrs. Hart and Laurence, of the Expedition, but
previous explorers had considered the sides inaccessible.

12. The author concurs with previous writers in con-
sidering that the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods succeeded
each other over this region (at least as far as tne marine
deposits are concerned) without any important physical
disturbances ; in consequence of which the limestone
formations of these periods are in physical conformity and
are generally incapable of separation without prolonged and
detailed examination. It seems probable, however, that
while the Nummulitic limestones predominate in the
Egyptian and Nubian areas, those of the Cretaceous period
were more fully developed over the area of Arabia Petra^a
and Palestine.

13. A complete series of meteorological observations,
consisting of maxima and minima readings of the thermo-
meter, and levels of the barometer, were made by Mr.
Laurence, and will ai)pear in the scientific work to follow.

ISO

CHAPTER X.

SMALLER EXPEDITIONS.

From time to time some special piece of work has
been taken in hand by the Committee as opportunity
offered.

Thus, among other journeys, may be mentioned : —

1. Mr. Greville Chester's visit to the Island of
Ruad.

This curious place, the ancient Aradus, has been
very seldom visited. Mr. Chester's account of it will
be found in the Quarterly Statement, p. 218, 1875.

2. Mr. Greville Chester's visit to the cities of the
Delta and the Lacus Serbonicus.

This journey will be found in the Quarterly State
T'lcnt, p. 133, 1880.

3. Warren's Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon.

This was a summer visit to escape the great heats
of Jerusalem. The stay in the hills was utilized by
sketching and planning a great number of the ruined
Temples, the summit of Hcrmon, &c.

4. Captain Condcr's discovery of Kadesh of the
Ilittitcs. Quarterly Statement, s.^'^i and 1882.

SMALLER EXPEDITLONS. 151

The following is Captain Conder's own account of
this discovery : —

Before detailing our observations on the spot, it will
perhaps be best briefly to explain the reasons why special
interest attaches to this site. The conquest of the great
eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties of Egyptian kings, in
the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries before Christ, extended
over the greater part of Palestine and Syria, and even as
far as Asia Minor. Amongst their most formidable
opponents were the Kheta, a light-coloured hairless people,
wearing high caps and dresses somewhat similar to those of
the Assyrians, but specially distinguished by their pointed
and turned up boots, like the modern Turkish slipper. The
Kheta are by most antiquarians identified with the Hittites
who inhabited northern Syria (Joshua i. 4), and who had
monarchs of their own in the time of Solomon (i Kings
X. 29 ; 2 Kings vii. 6). Thothmes III encountered these
formidable mountaineers in his expedition against Meggido,
and one of the pylons at Karnak, discovered by the late
Mariette Bey, gives a list of towns, including the names of
Kinnesrin, Aradus, Aleppo, and other places in Northern
Syria conquered by Thothmes III. after his subjugation of
the plains of Palestine and Galilee.

The most important contest was, however, that between
Rameses II. and the Hittites, in the fifth year of the
Egyptian monarch's reign, when he marched against the
city of Kadcsh on Orontes. A formidable league was
formed to oppose him. The Wysians, the Teurcians, the
Dardanians, the inhabitants of Aradus, Aleppo, and Car-
chemish, and even the Trojans (Iluna), and the tribes of
Mesopotamia (Naharain), are said to have gathered to the
Hittite standard, with many other unknown tribes. On
the hieroglyphic pictures the Semitic bearded allies are

^52 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

distinguished by dress and arms from the beardless Hittites,
who are supposed by some anticjuarians to have belonged
to a Turanian or Turkoman race from Asia Minor, which
had overrun and subjugated the fertile plains of the Orontes,
and had even penetrated to the very borders of the Egyptian
territory.

According to the ordinary chronology, the expedition of
Rameses II. occurred while Israel was being oppressed by
Jabin, King of Hazar, with his chariots of iron ; and, as it
is clear from Egyptian records that the Canaanites were
allies or tributaries of the Egyptians at this period, it is
highly probable that the iron chariots came from Egypt,
and belonged to that formidable force of chariots which
Rameses brought up to the plains of Kadesh to subdue the
Hittite?. Tae route pursued by Rameses was no doubt
controlled by the impossibility of crossing rugged mountains
with a force of chariots, and the road which we know him
to have followed either on his return or on his advance —
and probably on both occasions — led along the sea-coasts
towards Tripoli, passing the Dog River north of Beyrout,
where three tablets carved in the rocks by his order still
exist.

Thothmes III., who had attacked Kadesh in the thirtieth
year of his reign, founded a strong fortress near Aradus
(er Riiad) and Zamira (es Sumra), near the River Eleu-
therus), at the foot of Eebanon, and it seems probable that
Rameses would have advanced from the same fortress —
that is to say, from the western plam across the pass which
separates the Lebanon from the Ansieriyeh mountains, and
leads from Tripoli to Homs.

The town of Kadesh on Orontes is generally said to have
been on an island in a lake ; but the representation in the
Ramessum at 'I'hebes of the great battle between Rameses
II. and the Hittites appears rather to show a fortress sur-

SMALLER EXPEDITIONS. ■ 153

rounded by a river and situated not far from the borders of
a lake. The name of this river in the hieroglyphs is
Arunatha, or Hanruta, and the city is described as lying
" on the western bank of Hanruta at the lake of the land
of the Amorites."

The various references to Kadesh on Orontes were
kindly collected for me in 1880 by the Rev. H. G.
Tomkins. The portion of the great battle-piece repre-
senting the town is to be found copied in Sir G. Wilkinson's
"Ancient Egyptians," Vol. I., p. 257 The city is shown
with a double moat crossed by bridges ; on the left a broad
stream flows to the lake, but on the right the piece is
obliterated, and it is impossible to see whether the moat
ran all round, or whether the town lay between the junction
of two streams. Three higher and two smaller towers are
shown, and the Hittite army occupies the ground to the left
of the river, near the shores of the lake.

Mr. Tomkins also called my attention to another repre-
sentation of the town to be found in the Denkmaler of
Lepsius (III., plates 158, 159), where the plan is a long oval
with a single moat. Three high rowers are seen projecting
above the rest, and the moat leads downwards on the left,
and also away on the right, no bridges being shown.

The lake, near or in which Kadesh stood, has long been
identified with the Baheiret Homs, or Baheiret Koteineh,
the lake 6 miles long and 2 miles broad, through which the
Orontes passes between Riblah and Homs, about 8 miles
south-west of the latter town. This lake, according to Abu
el Feda, the geographer, was called in his times Bahr et
Kades; but the title is no longer known, and the actual site
of Kadesh was doubtful. It is true that an island exists in
this lake, but the Egyptian account of the fight cannot be
understood easily on the suijposition that this island, three-
fourths of a mile distant from the shore, was the place

154 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

attacked, and I was never al)le to understand the topography
of the battle until, when standing on the true site of
Kadesh, it became suddenly all clear.

The Egyptian army was arrayed south of the city of
Shabatun, with the brigade of Amun behind and the
brigade of Ra west of Shabatun. Shasu (or Arab) spies
were here brought before the Pharaoh and gave false intel-
ligence to the effect that the King of the Hittites was far
away, near Aleppo, whereas he lay really in ambush behind
the town of Kadesh. Ramcses accordingly began to
descend towards the region north-west of Kadesh, and there
halted to rest. His scouts here informed him of the secret
which they had extorted from some Hittite prisoners, and the
forces near Shabatun was ordered to advance. The King
of the Hittites passed over the ditch south of Kadesh and
fell upon and routed the brigade of Ra, which retreated
" on the road upwards to the place where the king was."
Rameses was thus attacked on his right flank, and his
retreat cut off by 2,500 chariots of the allies. He, however,
charged the Hittites, and drove them before him to the
Orontes, where many of their soldiers and chariots were
lost, and where the king of Aleppo was drowned. The
battle is said to have been "in the plain of the land of
Kadesh." On the following morning, Rameses attacked the
city, which yielded to him, and a peace was made with the
Hittite king and written on a plate of silver, the text of
which venerable treaty remains to the present day preserved
in the official account of this campaign.

Such, then, was the problem to be solved — the discovery
of a moated city on Orontes near the lake of Homs, in such
a position as to agree with the minute description of the
Egyptian scribe. This site we lit upon unexpectedly in the
imjwrtant ancient city generally known as Tell Neby
Mendeh, situate on the left bank of Orontes about four

SMALLER EXPEDLTLONS.

155

English miles south of the lake of Horns : for we discovered
that the name Kades was known to all the inhabitants of the
vicinity as applying to extensive ruins on the south side of
this great Tell, while Neby Mandeh is the name of an

LAKE OF HOMS

Compass Sketch

9 Ihrrttin
KoTe innti

trades

Seal* 4 tlilet to an Inch.
-1 i t i f

« «./m

important sacred shrine on the highest part of the hill, close
to which a small Arab village has now grown up. Not only
is the name of Kadesh thus preserved, but in looking down
from the summit of the Tell, we appear to see the very
double moat of the Egyptian picture, for while the stream
of Orontes is dammed up so as to form a small lake, some
50 yards across on the south-east of the site, a fresh brook

156 7 Jl ENTYONE YEARS' WORK.

flows on the west and north to join the river, and an outer
line of moat is formed by earthen banks, which flank a sort
of a(iueduct parallel with the main stream. The united
waters flow northwards from the Tell, and fall into the lake
of Homs. Thus only on the south is Kadesh not naturally
protected with a wet ditch, and the moat may very possibly
have formerly been completed by cutting a cross channel
from Orontes to the northern stream. '■

In addition to the Society's work proper, we have
received for publication, from time to time, most
valuable observations and notes of travel and dis-
covery, by a great many travellers, especially by Sir
Charles Wilson, Mr. Laurence Oliphant, Mr. Guy Le
Strange, Rev. F. W. Holland, Dr. Selah Merrill, and
Dr. Clay Trumbull, and several valuable papers by
Dr. Chaplin.

IS7

CHAPTER XI.

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY.

I. Jerusalem.

The principal monuments in the Holy City {see
" Survey of Western Palestine," the " Jerusalem "
volume, "Architectural History of Jerusalem," p. 5-
1 16) are as follows : —

The walls of the Upper City. The great rock-

Tomb of Nicodemus.

158 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

scarps may be as old as the time of David, eleventh
century B.C.

The so-called tomb of Nicodemus west of the
rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre Church. This has
been proposed for the burial place of David, Solomon,
and the more famous of the succeeding kings. Its
form is that of the oldest class of Jewish tombs.
The identification depends first of all on the course
of the Second Wall which must be proved to include
the tomb within it.

The great tunnel from the Upper Spring to the
Pool of Siloam is certainly older than the captivity.
The inscription lately found in it is believed to refer
it to Hezekiah (2 Chronicles xxxii. 4, 30).

The Wall of Ophel, discovered by Captain Warren,
is at least as old as the time of Nehemiah.

The rocky scarp of the Tower of Baris, identified
by Wilson and Warren with the scarp now existing
at the north-west angle of the Haram, is at least as
old as the second century B.C.

The " Cotton Grotto " was a quarry used probably
by Solomon, certainly by Herod.

The old rock-cut monuments in the Kedron Valley
probably belong to the Hasmonean period, i.e.^ the
second century B.C.

The so-called " Tombs of the Kings " are supposed
to be the sepulchre of Queen Helena of Adiabene
and her sons.

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY- 159

The so-called " Tombs of the Judges " are said by
the Jews to be the tombs of the chiefs of the Sanhe-
drim, also of the Hasmonean period.

The Temple walls, now the lower courses of the
wall of the Haram Area, are believed by Captain
Conder to have been entirely reconstructed by Herod.
Sir Charles Wilson has discussed the masonry of
these walls in a paper published in the Quarterly
Statement of January, 1881. The subject is also
treated by Sir Charles Warren in the "Jerusalem"
volume.

" Hezekiah's Pool " is supposed to be the Pool
Amygdalon of the "Towers" mentioned by Josephus,
5 " Wars," xi. 4. It is in that case at least as old
as the Herodian period.

The low level aqueduct from Bethlehem was con-
structed by Pontius Pilate.

Besides these monuments, the subterranean passage
discovered by Warren, the chambers at and about
Wilson's Arch, the substructures discovered by him
in and round the walls of the Haram, the double
Souterrain north-west of the Haram, with its passage
leading to the Haram Wall, part of the " Tower
of David " are probably all prs-Christian.

The present walls appear to have been built on the
same lines as those of Hadrian, A.D. 136. The Ecce
Homo Arch is also supposed to be of his construction
and the Birket Israil is also attributed to him by some.

l6o TWEWTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

The Basilica of the Anastasis, built by Constan-
tine, has been long destroyed and replaced by succes-
sive churches, of which the present Church of the
Holy Sepulchre is the last.

The Dome of the Rock was built, according to all
the Arabic historians, by Abd el Melek, in the year
688, A.D. It is allowed, however, that he employed
Byzantine architects.

The Mosque el Aksa was built by Justinian, under
the name of the Basilica of St. Mary, and was much
altered by Abd el Melek and his successors.

A history of all the successive buildings in the city
will be found in the "Jerusalem" volume already re-
ferred to. The remaining monuments are the Golden
Gate, the Double Gate, the vaults called Solomon's
Stables, the Robinson's Arch, the Birkel el Mamilla,
and the Birkct es Sultan, the Pool of Bathsheba, the
Virgin's Fountain, the Pool of Siloam, Bir Eyub, the
so-called Gate Gennath, &c.

II. Ihe Moabite stone.

On the 19th day of August, in the year 1868, the
Rev. F. A. Klein, a missionary of the Church Mis-
sionary Society, found the stone at Dhiban. Mr.
Klein, though in the service of an English society
and a clergyman of the Church of England, was a
French subject, being a native of Strasburg, at that
time a French town. Most unfortunately, Mr. Klein
withheld his discovery from his countryman IM.

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. i6x

Clermont Ganneau, who, had he been left alone,
would certainly have obtained an exact copy, and
probably have secured it. With equal want of
judgment, he withheld it from his own colleagues,
and from the English Bishop. They would have
communicated it to Captain Warren, then in the city.
He would, if any man, have been able to get the
monument brought across the Jordan. But he went
to the German Consul, Dr. Petermann.

Here was the grand mistake of the whole business.
Either Captain Warren or M. Clermont Ganneau could
have got up the stone, whole and uninjured, for a few
napoleons, because the Arabs ivet-e zvJiolly un-
acquainted with its value. One or two attempts were
secretly made by Dr. Petermann to get the stone by
means ot native agents. They failed, and doubly
failed, because they taught the Arabs the value of the
stone. Then an appeal was made to the Turkish
Government — the most fatal mistake of all ; for the
stone was in the possession of Beni Humaydah (not
the Beni Hamidah, as stated by error in the article
on the Moabite Stone in the " Recovery of Jerusa-
lem "), the wildest of the wild tribes to the east of
Jordan. They were smarting, too, at the time from
the effects of the Belka Expedition, led by Rashid
Pasha in person ; and, says Captain l^urton, " know-
ing what a dragonnade meant, they were in paroxysms

of terror at the idea of a raid."

L

1 62 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

The secret by this time had oozed out, and was
perfectly well known to Captain Warren, the Rev.
Dr. Barclay, and M, Clermont Ganneau. It was de-
cided by Captain Warren that it would be best at
this point to leave the matter in the hands of Dr.
Petermann. Observe that any interference on his part
would have probably tended to complicate matters,
and might have led to a still earlier destruction of the
monument. In the spring of 1869, Captain Warren,
with his party, went to the Libanus. Dr. Petermann,
too, left Jerusalem for Berlin, after personally assur-
ing M. Ganneau tJtat the whole affair had fallen
through. Captain Warren away, and the Prussians
having desisted from their endeavours, the coast was
clear for M. Clermont Ganneau.

M. Ganneau got a squeeze of the whole — in rags
it is true, but still a squeeze. Then came the catas-
trophe. The wild Arabs, terrified at the prospect of
another raid, angry at the probable loss of a stone
which possessed supernatural powers in their eyes,
lit a fire under the priceless relic, threw cold water on
it when it was red-hot, and so smashed it into pieces.
Captain Warren obtained squeezes of the two larger
fragments ; and then the work of decipherment, history,
controversy, and recrimination began. After all that
has been said as to its history, one thing is clear:
the blame of its destruction rests neitJier with Captain
Warren nor witJi M. Clermont Ganneau. Had Mr.

THE MONUME.VTS OF THE COUNTRY. 163

Klein gone openly in the first instance to the former,
there is. not the slightest doubt that this most invalu-
able monument would be now l\'ing, intact and entire,
in the British Museum, in the Louvre, or in Berlin.
No matter where, provided only it had been saved.

For it is a monument which yields in importance
to none yet found. It is a narrative by a Moabite
king of his battles and conquests. It is like another
page added to the Bible. It takes us back to the
time of King Omri and King Ahab ; and it takes us
nearer to the origin of our own alphabet than any
other document yet discovered. In every way it is
a gain. It has a value historical, a value geographical,
a value linguistic, a value theological, a value paleeo-
graphic. It has this value, mutilated as it is. It
would be priceless indeed, could we recover enough
of the upper surface to read it without doubt or hesi-
tation. The number of letters on the monument was
a little over 1,000. The number preserved is 669.
Subjoined is the translation given by M. Clermont
Ganneau, June, 1870: —

I am Mesa, son of Chamosgad, King of Moab, the
Dibonite. | My father reigned thirty years, and I have
reigned after my father. And I have built this sanctuary
for Chamos in Qarha [sanctuary of salvation], for he has
saved me from all aggressors and has made me look upon
all my enemies with contempt. |

Omri was King of Israel, and oppressed Moab during
many days, and Chamos was irritated at his aggressions. |

L 2

1 64 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

And his son succeeded him, and lie said, he also, " I will

oppress Moab." | In my days I said " I will . . . him

and I will visit him and his house." [ And Israel was ruined,
ruined for ever. Omri gained possession of the land of
Medeba. | And he dwelt there . . . [Ahab] his son lived
forty years, and Chamos made him [perish] in my time. [

Then I built Baal Meon and constructed Qiriathaim. |

And the men of Gad dwelt in the country of [Ataro]th
from ancient times, and the King of Israel had built the
city of Ataroth. | I attacked the city and I took it, | and 1
killed all the people of the city, as a spectacle to Chamos
and to Moab, | and I carried away from there the . . . and
I dragged it to the ground before the face Chamos at
Qerioth, | and I brought there the men of Saron (or of
Chofen) and the men of Maharouth (?).

And Chamos said to me, " Go ; take Nebah from
Israel." | I went by night, and I fought against the city from
dawn to midday, | and I took it : and I killed all, seven
thousand [men, and I carried away with me] the women
and the young girls ; for to Astar Chamos belongs the
consecrati jn of women ; | and I brought from there the
vessels of Jehovah, and I dragged them on the ground
before the face of Chamos. |

And the King of Israel had built Yahas, and resided
there during his war with me. | And Chamos drove him
from before my face : I took from Moab two hundred men
in all ; I made them go up to Yahas, and I took it to annex
it to Di[)on. |

It is I who have built Qarha, the Wall of the Forests
and the Wall of the Hill. | I have built its gates, and I have
built its towers. I I have built the palace of the king, and
have constructed the prisons of the ... in the midst of the

city. I

And there were no wells in the interior of the city in

THE MONUME.YTS OF THE COUNTRY. 165

Qarha : and I said to all the people, " Make you every man
a well in his house," [ and I dug | cisterns for Qarha for | . . .
of Israel. |

It is I who have built Aroer, and made the road of
Arnon. (

It is I who have built Beth Bamoth, which was
destroyed. | It is I who have built Bosor which (is power-
ful) . . . Dibon of the military chiefs, for all Dibon was
submissive, j And I have filled . . . with the cities which I
have added to the land (of Moab). |

And it is I who have built . Beth Diblathain, and Beth
Baal Meon, and I have raised there the . . . the land. | And
Horonaim, he resided there with . . . | And Chamos said to
me, " Go down and fight against Horonaim." | . . . Chamos
in my day . , . the year ....

III. The stone of Zohcleth.

The following is M. Clermont Ganneau's account of
the discovery : —

Nearly in the centre of the line along which stretches the
village of Si loam, there exists a rocky plateau surrounded
by Arab buildings, which mask its true form and extent ;
the western face, cut perpendicularly, slightly overhangs the
valley. Steps rudely cut in the rock enable one to climb it,
not without difficulty, and so to penetrate directly from the
valley to the midst of the village. By this road, trouble-
some, and even dangerous, pass habitually the women of
Siloam, who come to fill their vessels at the so-called
" Virgin's Fount " (Ain Sitti Mariam, Immed-deraj ). Now,
this passage and the ledge of rock m which it is cut are
called by the fellahin " Ez Zehwki.f." It is impossible not
to be struck with the absolute identity which this name
offers with that of the stone of /.ohclcth^ which the Bible
(i Kings i. 9) places near (~i^^) Ain Rogel. It is quite

1 66 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

sufficient, in fact, to compare the Hebrew and Arabic to
determine with what precision the phonetic elements corre-
spond. The vocal type itself is exactly reproduced, putting
aside an insignificant inversion of the sound 6>, which in
Hebrew precedes, and in Arabic follows, the consonant H-
A homogeneous transcript will present us with this identity
in still clearer manner. Hebrew : Zohelet ; Arabic : Zelwelet.
I believe, then, that we can consider the situation of the
stone of Zoheleth definitely determined. This point fixed
with certainty can serve to determine the position of many
others of the highest interest. At present I can only
indicate a few, proposing to return to the question at length
at some future time. For example, it becomes extremely
probable that we must put En Rogel at the Virgin's
Fountain, and not at Bir Eyiib. In fact, Bir Eyub is 700
metres distant from Zehwele, and the Pool of Siloam is
400 metres ; while the Virgin's Fountain, situated exactly
opposite Zehwele, is only separated from it by the breadth
of the valley, about 60 metres. I call attention to the
importance of this result in tracing the line separating the
territories of Benjamin and Judah, which passed by Am
Rogel, and the support which it affords to Captain Warren's
ingenious theory of the direction of this line.

I must advance another fact which appears to me
intimately connected with this remark, and to confirm it in
a certain measure. We know the multiplicity of denomi-
nations under which the great eastern valley of J erusalem,
so commonly called the Kedron is known. The fellahin of
Siloam divide it into three sections, whii h are, proceeding
from north to south : ist, Wady Sitti Mariam ; 2nd, ^\'ady
Fer'aun ; 3rd, Wady Eyub. The name of the intermediate
part, which extends from the south-east angle of the Haram
to the confluence at the north of Blr Eyub, is remarkable :
Wady Fer'aun that is, Fharauh's Valley. Now it is well

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 167

known that to the xA.rabs, the name of Pharaoh simply
indicates the idea of something or other of ancient times,
and it is found with this vague meaning in a crowd of
places which have nothing to do with Egypt, very much as
in France, where all Roman camps are for the vulgar,
Caesar's camps. Wady Fer'aun signifies, then, the valky of
the king, and the region to which this name is applied is
precisely that which the Kiii^s Gardejis of the Bible used
to occupy.

IV. The inscribed stone of the Temple.
M. Clermont Ganneau thus described his discovery
in the AtJiencBiini of Jime lOth, 1871 : — •

Permit me to make known, in a few words, an
important discovery which I have just made in Jerusalem.
It is one of those tablets which, in the temple reconstructed
by Herod, forbade strangers, as Josephus tells us, from
passing the sacred enclosure — the prohibition being written
in Greek and Latin. The tablet which I have found bears
the following inscription in Greek in seven lines : —

MHOENAAAAOrEMHBEnO

PEYEZOAIENTOZ TOYnE

PITOIEPONTPYMKTOYKAI

nEPIBOAOYOlAANAH

00HEAYTOIAITIOZEI:

TAI^IATOEZAKOAOY

The characters are monumental in size, and present the
appearance which one would expect in an inscription of the
period.

1 68 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

The translation is : —

" No stranger is to enter within the balustrade (r^T'^jaK-rot-) round the
temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible to himself
for his death, which will ensue."

The iiassage of Josephus to which I have made allusion,
is as follows : —

" When you go through these first cloisters unto the second (court of
the seven temples), there was a partition (f pv^a/crof ) made of stone all
round, whose height was three cubits ; its constructi-in was very elegant.
Upon it stood pillars at equal distances from one another, declaring the
laws of purity, some in Greek, and some in Roman letters, that no
* foreigner should go within that saiictuarj'.' "*

The connection between this text and our inscription is
striking. The expressions and the forms are similar : ^lijceva
a\\60v\oi> is the exact equivalent of our fiijCevu'aWo^evTj ;
" the second iepov," says Josephus, is surrounded by the
" fp('0«A:Tov." Our inscription says " the T/ji'0«/tTov which is
round the 'hjiov." The variant T/ji'0«fc-7os is singular, and
probably points to one of the faults of pronunciation in use
amongst the Jews speaking Greek at this period. We must
observe that Josephus does not speak of the tragic fate which
menaced him who might violate the rule; his silence is
certainly intentional.

We may boldly affirm that this Greek inscription is not
only the most ancient, but also the most interestmg, in all its
[)earings, which Jerusalem has yet produced. I cannot in
this simple letter follow out all the (juestions which it raises ;
that must be the object of a special memoire. I will confine
myself only to remark the principal points which attach to
it ; the fixing of a certain palseographic scale for Greek
inscriptions already discovered, or yet to be discovered, in
Jerusalem ; the form and dimensions of the tablet, which
may determine the use of the three cubit balustrade which
it surmounted ; ap])earance and workmanship of the stone,

* Whiston's translation is here given.

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 169

permitting us to specify technically the blocks of Herodian
work, and to distinguish them from those cut at a previous
date ; striking confirmations of the exactness of Josephus's
descriptions ; authentic and contemporaneous definitions of
the different parts of the temple ; the T/3ii0a/cTos' {sored of the
Talmud ?), the 'Upov., the TrepiiioXi] &c., &c.

The episode in the Acts of the Apostles (xxi. 26, et
seq.) throws on, as well as receives from, this precious
inscription great light. Paul, after purification, presents
himself in the temple ; the people immediately rise against
him, because certain Jews of Asia believed that Paul had
introduced into the temple a Gentile, Trophimus of Ephesus,
and had thus polluted the sacred place. They are about to
put him to death when the Tribune commanding at Fort
Antonia intervenes and rescues him from the hands of his
executioners. The people demand of the Tribune the
execution of the culprit, i.e., the "application of the law."

V. The inscription in the Pool of Siloam.

This inscription, by far the most important of any
yet found in Jerusalem, was accidentally discovered in
August, 1880. On hearing of it, the Committee sent
out authority to Dr. Chaplin to expend the money
required to lower the water in order to examine it
more carefully, and to take copies of it. It has been
examined and copied by Captain Conder, HcrrGuthe,
M. Clermont Ganneau, Prof. Sayce, and others. The
forms of the letters arc closely like those of the
Moabitc stone, the words being divided by points.
A cast has been taken of the inscription. The
translation is thus given by Prof. Sayce {Quarterly
Statement, October, 1881): —

I70 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

(i) Behold the excavation ! Now this is the history of
the tunnel. While the excavators were lifting up

(2) the pick, each towards the other; and while there
were yet three cubits to be broken through . . . the
voice of the one called

(3) to his neighbour, fur there was an excess (?) in the
rock on the right. They rose uj:) . . . . they struck on
the west of the

(4) excavation, the excavators struck, each to meet the
other, pick to pick. And there flowed

(5) the waters from their outlet to the Pool for a distance
of a thousand cubits ; and (three-fourths ?)

(6) of a cubit was the height of the rock over the head of
the excavation here.

Its date is believed to be that of Hezekiah.

VI. The Head of Hadrian.

A statue of Hadrian erected on the site of the
Holy of Holies in that emperor's reign was the cause
of the last revolt under the Bar Cochebas. The Head
of this statue was found by M. Clermont Ganneau in
Jerusalem, and is here figured.

VII. The Gaza Jupiter. Concerning this statue,
Captain Conder wrote in 1882 from Constantinople:

This great statue was discovered, in iSSo, by the
natives at Tell 'Ajjul, south of Gaza, and we owe its
preservation to the exertions of the Rev. W. Shapira,
the missionary. The Arabs had at once commenced to
break up the statue, and had succeeded in greatly damaging
the face. Mr. Shnpira persuaded the governor to set a
guard over the place, and the antiquarians of Palestine owe

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY.

171

Head of Hadrian.

him a debt of gratitude for having prevented the entire
destruction of this unique monument. A paper descriptive

172

TWENTY-ONE YEARS" WORK.

of the statue will be found in the Qtiarterly Statement.,
with tlie measurement of its principal proportions. I now
send a copy of the sketch which I have just made from the
original in the porch of the
Stamboul Museum. The sug-
gestion which I ventured to make
at the time seems to me to be
fully borne out, and there can, I
imagine, be little doubt that the
figure is intended for a Jupiter.
The princijjal deity of Gaza was
called Marna {i.e., t^21»2 " Our
I^ord"), and was worshipped as
late as the fifth century a.d. (Epi-
phanius Adv Hoeret). He was a
deity who controlled the rain, and
his temple was destroyed by St.
Porphyirus (Acta Sanct). Accord-
ing to Lenormant he was a god
similar to the Cretan Jupiter and
the Phcenician Eshmun — the
chief among a group of seven or
eight deities ("Lcttres Assyrio-
logiques," Vol. II., Letter V., p.
165, j^^.). These seven Cabiri or
"great ones" appear to have all
had temples in Gaza, That of Marna, destroyed by the
Christians, was round, with two outer porches or circles —
a kind of Druidical circle perhaps. His other titles
were "the living," "the eternal," "the universal," "the
everlasting." It seems probable that the statute at Con-
stantinople may be that of the Jupiter iSIarna of Gaza.
The nose and face have been damaged, but the arrange-
ment of the hair reminds one of the classic Jupiter. The

The Gaza Stalue.

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 173

right arm is broken above the elbow, the left appears to
have been sawn off. The figure was seated on a bench, but
the legs have also apparently been sawn off in front. These
mutilations had been, I believe, effected before the statue
was discovered, and it seemed to me possible that the pious
pagans may have buried their Jupiter to save him from the
Christians, and may have been obliged to divide it for
facility of transport.

VIII. The Gezer inscriptions.

The following was written by M. Clermont Gan-
neau in the field after finding the first ; a second
inscription was afterwards discovered.

But the most important inscription of all, the discovery of
which is the grand result of this campaign, is that of Gezer.
I have already touched upon it in a few words written hastily
from Jaffa.

Here, then, are new details on the subject, pending the
full study which will accompany the original. I send yon a
drawing of the inscription, made by M. Lecomte with his
accustomed care and ability. This may serve as a basis tor
the observations of savants. I was the first to establish the
identity of Tell el Jezer (ihe Abu Shusheh of the maps) with
the royal Canaanite city of Gezer, hitherto vainly sought and
generally placed at Yasur. I communicated this discovery
to different persons at Jerusalem, and during my last stay
in France I had the honour of reading before the Academy
of Inscriptions a memoir on the subject, which was only
partially published.

I now remember that, when I had finished the reading,
the President of the Academy asked me if I had found on
the spot any inscription confirming this identification, made,

174 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

SO to speak, a priori, and having iox point de depart ?i little-
known passage in Medjr ed Din.

T was obliged to confess that I had not in support of my
theory any proof of this kind, and that I could only quote,
outside my narrow base, the classical and critical arguments
which from the time of Robinson have served to establish
the principal Biblical identifications.

Very well ;— this unhoped-for proof, improbable even in
Palestine, where not a single corresponding example has
been met with, I have, had the great fortune to find.

At a very short distance from Tell el Jezer, on the east
side, the text in question exists, engraved on a slab of rock
nearly horizontal, and very nearly two metres in length.

It is bilingual : it begins with the Greek word AAKIO — in
characters of classical epoch, immediately followed by the
Hebrew letters of ancient square form, of which nothing, I
think, can be made except 1"fJ + ?2nr\-

In the second word we \\:xwt the very name of Gezer just
as it is writtefi in the Bible.

As to the first, I can see nothing else than the defective
form of 72inn- The omission of the van is perfectly admis-
sible considering the remote period at which the inscription
was written.

As for the signification of the word, it is clearly that of
limit. The word is not Biblical, but it is frequently employed
in the Talmud to determine the distance that must not be
exceeded on the Sabbath day — rQ"C?n TDinH-

The Hebrew inscription must, then, be translated as limit
of Gezer.

Is this the hieratic, or simply the civil limit ?

Two facts appear to argue in favour of the first
conjecture : —

I. The special acceptation of the word T^^IHil ^" ^^'''^
Talmudic language.

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 175

2. The quality of the city Gezer as belonging to the group
of Levitical cities, so that the observation of the Sabbatical
limits would be more rigorously observed than elsewhere.

I have no time to enter into the still obscure question of
the length of a Sabbath day's journey. I reserve that for
the special publication of this precious text, which will
perhaps actually solve it, if it means really the Sabbatical
limit and not a non-religious boundary.

I need not recall the well-known passage, Numbers xxxv.
2-34,* where the limits of the Levitical cities and these
suburbs are so exactly ordered. It may very well be that in
the same radius round Tell el Gezer we may find at the
other cardinal points similar inscriptions. I mean to look
for them.

One particularity on which I must insist, as it may
enlighten us on the real destination of this singular and
unique inscription, is that of its position. The letters are
placed so as to be read, not by any one who came from
Gezer and intended to cross the hieratic boundary, but by
one who, coming from without, sought to pass within. This
makes me inclined to believe that we have not simply a
warning for the Sabbatic rest, but a line of demarcation
much more important and necessary.

Let me recall, en passant, the fact that Gezer was a frontier
town of Ephraim, though I would not pretend to see a
tribe-limit in this city boundary.

Gezer was a Levitical city (Joshua xxi. 21). "They gave
[the Levites which remained of the children of Kohath]
Shechem with her suburbs in Mount Ephraim to be a city
of refuge for the slayer ; and Gezer with her suburbs."

* Vcr. 5. " Ye shall measure from without the city on the side two
thousand cub'ts, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the
west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand
cubits, and the city shall be in the midst," &c.

176 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WOKK.

It is also possible that the Sabbatical limit was the same
as the Levitical.

However that may be, our inscription fixes one point of
some perimeter about Gezer. The operations of measure-
ment which we shall proceed to make will perhaps show us
whether this radius is one, two, or three thousand cubits, or
whether it is of the length indicated by several authors as

that of the oSo? au^^drov.

What is the date of the inscription ? Palffiographically
and historically it seems that we may boldly assign it a date
previous to Titus as a minimum limit.

I should not even hesitate to put it at the Maccabean
period during which Gezer plays so important a part, and
becomes a political and military centre. The Greek and
Hebrew characters may very well belong to the first century
before Christ. The date, I believe, may thus vary between
the two extreme points.

The name of "aXkws does not help us in fixing it. Is it
the name of a priest, or of a governor of Gezer ? It indicates
Hellenised habits which would be repulsive to the first
Asmonseans, and which tend to bring our inscription down
to Herodian times, in which Hellenism was flourishing.

As to the truncated form a\kio, that may be explained by
the fact of the two texts, Hebrew and Greek, being placed
end to end on the same line ; and commencing one at the
right and the other at the left, the engraver carving his
Greek word after the other, could not find room for the
whole word, his O abutting on the ~1 of the word Gezer.
Besides, a broken place in the rock between the A and the K
took up a portion of the space at his disposal.

I think that the limit of the protecting boundary was not
marked only by this inscription on the level of the ground,
and difficult to see, but, besides, by some salient sign, some
landmark, or cifpits pomcErius, which has disappeared, the

t/3

=3

c
o

■J5

:'i»W*^<

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 177

the traces of which I intend to look for. The existence of
indicative marks seems pointed out clearly in Numbers xxxv.
4-26.

To sum up, this discovery has for its chief results —

1. The finding of a Hebrseo-Greek text of ancient date,
very important in Jewish epigraphy.

2. The positive confirmation that Gezer is really at Tell
el Jezer, as I had shown from critical considerations.

This startling confirmation of an identification obtained
solely by an inductive method has its weight in other Biblical
identifications established on the same principles, gives them
legitimacy, so to speak, and confirms the degree of credi-
bility which belongs to them.

3. The probable solution of the much disputed contro-
versy of the Sabbath day's journey and the hieratic limits of
Levitical cities.

4. A well-grounded hope of finding in the environs of
Gezer and the other Levitical cities analogous inscriptions.

The whole of the discoveries at and about Gezer
are fully described, with plans and a map, in the
"Survey of Western Palestine," Memoirs II., p.

428-434.

IX. The stone of Bethphage.

This stone, with its frescoes representing the

raising of Lazarus and the disciples bringing the

ass, is a Crusading monument discovered by Frere-

Lievin, copied by Captain Guillemot and commented

upon by M. Clermont Ganncau. It is curious and

interesting, because it is proved by this learned

archaeologist to have been the traditional stone on

M

178 : TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK'.

which Our Lord rested when He sent the disciples
"to the village " (Matthew xxi. 2).

X. The Hamath inscriptions. Copies of these are
in the Society's collection at the South Kensington
Museum. Since their re-discovery, some fifteen years
ago — they had previously been seen by Burck-
hardt — many other fragments of inscriptions in the
same character have been found. No attempt to read
them has as yet been generally accepted. The reason
why they were attributed to the Hittites, may be
found in Dr. Wright's " Empire of the Hittites."

XT. The Sassanian building at Amman.

The most important point in the detailed survey of
Amman, on the East of Jordan, was the examination of
a small building on the top of the citadel hill at 'Amman.
It had been visited and described by Consul Finn,
Colonel Warren, and Canon Tristram, but as none of
these explorers were able to remain very long at this
site, it had not been fully described. It has generally
been supposed to be of Byzantine origin, and has been
variously described as a church and a mosque. An inspec-
tion of the enclosed plan and details will, however, perhaps
serve to show that the building is equally unlike either the
Byzantine churches, or the Arab mosques of Palestine, and
that it has, indeed, an unique character, and is well worth
minute study.

The building stands in the middle of the courtyard of the
Temple, and is irregulady built, so that the west side
measures 85 ft., the east 81 ft., the south 80 ft. It has
a central open court 33 ft. scjuare, from which arched
recesses open back, each measuring about 18 ft. square.

c

r:
■J.

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY.

179

In the four corners are small vaulted chambers, and in the
north-west angle are remains of a staircase whicn appeals
to have led ujj from the outside to the roof.

It does not seem that the central court was ever roofed
over. The entrance to the building is from the south, and
seems to be of the same date with the main part of the
buildings, although traces of reconstruction may, perhaps,
be suspected on the south wall. There was another
entrance on the north, now blocked.

The main feature of the building is, however, the
elaborately sculptured ornamentation of the inner walls.

The accompanying drawings

will serve to show the style of
this ornamentation, which,
as a whole, is quite unlike
any sculpture found in Wes-
tern Palestine. The designs
differ on the different walls,
and the sculpture does not
seem to have been finished,
as some of the panels are
left plain ; and the tracery
on the north wall seems to
be incomplete. The sculp-
ture is in low relief or. stone
of fair consistency, taken
from the neighbouring lime-

5cdi« 1 00 feet to 1 1nch.

Plan and Section ot Sassanian
ISuilding.

Stone quarries.

On either side of the bold central arch is a sculptured
panel with an arched head, standing on a string course
with three smaller arch-headed panels beneath, and three
others again above. The bas-reliefs in the larger panels
differ in each case, one as shown reprcsentnig two rows of
circles enclosing geometrical designs, wliilc another gives

M 2

l8o TWENTY-ONE YEARS WORK.

a stiff conventional tree pattern not unlike the sacred con-
ventional tree of Asshur which is found on Assyrian bas-
reliefs. There is an entire absence of any figures of birds or
animals, and in this respect the sculpture differs from that of
the famous Sassanian Palace at Mashita, discovered by
Canon Tristram, not far from the present site, although in
other respects there is a similarity between the two buildings
in detail.

Among the details will be observed a flat dog-tooth
moulding, which somewhat resembles the ornament applied
by the Crusaders to arches in their early churches of the
1 2th century, — as, for instance, in the beautiful west window
of the Muristan at Jerusalem, of which a photograph was
taken by Lieutenant Kitchener, R.E. The vine-bunches
which occur in the interior of some of the lower panels are
also interesting ; similar conventional vine-patterns occur
not only on the later Jewish tombs of the period when
Greek art influenced the native sculptors, but also in
Byzantine tombs and chapels of the 5th and 6th century in
Western Palestine.

The most valuable features are, however, the arches and
the pilasters of the panels. It is very curious to note that
in this small structure, the round arch, the pointed arch,
and the Moorish arch all occur together, the two later forms
being in an embryonic condition which architects will
probably consider very interesting. The great central
arches, w-hich form the face of the tunnel-vaults of the four
recessed chambers, appear to have a very slight and almost
imperceptible point of which the attached photograph w-ill
give a fair idea. The shape is, indeed, almost exactly the
same as that of the arches supporting the dome in the
Jerusalem Dome of the Rock. It has long been a subject of
debate whether the arches in the latter building were round
or pointed. Those in the outer arcade, which are covered

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. i8i

with ancient glass mosaic, are round, those in the inner arcade
under the dome have a very shght and ahiiost imperceptible
point, as can be seen in the photograph taken in 1874 at
my request by Lieutenant Kitchener, where three arches
are shown directly facing the spectator. These arches are
now, however, covered with marble casing, so that it is not
quite certain whether the structure beneath may not be a
round arch ; but the new example from 'Amman serves to
throw some light on this question.

The feature of the slender coupled columns with very
simple capitals is also worthy of special attention, as will be
noticed immediately. The Moorish form of the interior
of the arches above the larger panels will be noticed on the
elevation.

In his valuable critique on the Palace of Mashita, Mr.
Fergusson compares that building with the Sassanian archi-
tecture of Persia, instancing the great buildings of Tak
Kesra and Taki Gero \ and he also draws attention to the
connection between Persian and Byzantine architecture.
The elevation of Takt-i-Kesra presents several features of re-
markable similarity to the details of the building on the hill
at 'Amman. The great central archway ; the walls panelled
with arches divided by coupled columns having a single cap ;
the use of round, pointed, and stilted arches in one structure,
are common to the two buildings, and the inference is
natural that the 'Amman example may prove to be of Sas-
sanian origin — an inference supported by the existence of
the Mashita Palace in the same district, since Mr. Fergusson
has decided that this latter must be referred to the time of
Chosrocs II.

There is, however, one great difference remarked between
the 'Amman building and the Mashita palace, namely tliat
no figures of birds or beasts occur in the former. This
suggests that the 'Amman building may probably be the

1 82 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

work of a Moslem people, and thus, perhaps, one of the
earliest Arab structures subsequent to the conquest by Omar,
The early Khalifs, incU:ding 'Abd el Rlelek, employed
Greek architects in Syria, and Coptic Christians in Egypt, to
build their early mosques ; but it is not less certain that the
influence of Persian art was strongly felt by the half-civilised
Arabs. The historian Ibn Khaldun, as quoted by Lane,
writes thus : " When they ceased to observe the strict precepts
of their religion, and the disposition for dominion and
luxurious living overcame them, the Arabs employed the
Persian nation to serve them, and acquired from them the
arts and architecture, and then they made loft> buildings."
Mr. Poole has, moreover, pointed out, in commenting on
this passage, that probably the Persian influence had affected
the Greeks of the Eastern Empire before it reached the
Arabs, and that some of the peculiarities of Byzantine art
may, perhaps, be best explained by comparison with Sas-
sanian buildings.

If the conclusion be considered correct that the building
on the hill at 'Amman is an early specimen of Moslem work
under Sassanian influence, the comparison with the Dome
of the Rock at Jerusalem is instructive and interesting.

In addition to the peculiarities of the arches common to
the two buildings, it may be noted that at Jerusalem in the
outer wall of the Dome of the Rock, we have the same
feature of large round-headed panels (pierced in some
instances v;ith windows) having above them a second tier of
smaller panels, with simple coupled columns between.
Probably also son^e resemblance may be recognised between
the details of the ornamentation, as, for instance, the con-
ventional vine-pattern which occurs also (in bronze) on the
wooden architrave which spans the round arches of the
arcade in the Dome of the Rock.

The Dome of the Rock, which, according to the ancient

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 183

Cufic inscription in the interior, was built by Moslems in
688 A.D., is a building recognized as presenting features of
very Byzantine appearance. The comparison with the
Moslem building at 'Amman may, perhaps, be considered
to throw some light on the explanation which may finally
be expected of the pecularities of its architecture.

There are, unfortunately, no traces of any inscription on
either the mosque or the upper building at 'Amman, beyond
a rudely carved religious formula above noticed, which seems
to have been cut at a late period by an unskilled hand.

It should be noted, finally, that the Moorish arch (a seg-
ment of a circle greater than half) not only occurs in the
upper building, but seems also to have been used in the
arched ribs supporting the mosque roof. The arches have
fallen, but the haunch stones in some cases remain, and are
corbelled out so as to present a reverse curve, which is
rather ornamental than really structural. — I'rom Captain
Conder's Reports.

XII. The rude stone monuments.

There are but one or two of these in Western
Palestine, but in the East, so far as it has yet been
explored they abound. Thus Captain Conder wrote
in November, 1881 : —

In a former report I described briefly some of the rude
stone monuments which we examined at Hesban, but as yet
I have not given any account of the still more interesting
groups which we discovered later, including structures of
seven different kinds, viz. : i. dolmens (or cromlechs) : 2.
Menhirs or standing stones ; 3. cubical stones in circles or
standing alone ; 4. Circles of rude stones piled m a heap ;
5, Rude pillars; 6. Cairns; 7. Disk stones.

Of these the cromlechs or dolmens (whichever be the
correct title) are the most numerous. In Wady Hesban

1 84

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORJC.

there are about 50; round Wady Jideid there are groups
which give together a total of about 150. On the north side
of the Zerka M'ain there is a large group, numbering some

Minyeh Rude Stone Monument.

10

o

till

10

20

30 feet

150. At Mount Nebo there are only a very few in connection
with a large stone circle and cairn. At 'Amman we dis-
covered 8 in all, very much scattered. Near the Jabbok

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY.

185

there is another group not yet visited, and in the Ghor es
Seiseban, for a distance of about two miles, between Wady

\

Winepress

Q

XMenhir called
Hair el Mansub

Hajr e

'/eof ivi6<^'

Rougrh Sketcli of the Site of
EL MAREIGHAT

Kefrein and Wady Hesban, all the spurs are covered with
dolmens, numbering between 200 and 300 in all, while
north and south of these limits not a single specimen can be
found for many miles. The total of 600 to 700 is thus divided
into seven very distinct groups, each occurring in the vicinity
of fine springs, and of hill-tops commanding an extensive
view ; and the impression which I noted in my former
report is fully confirmed, for the dolmens are not scattered
over the country without system, but are confined to localities
at considerable distances apart, where they are crowded
close together, generally appcarmg to group round a central
point on a hill-top.

Although no previous traveller has been enabled to
examine carefully all the groups mentioned, the discovery of
such monuments dates back more than sixty years, to the

1 86 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

time when Irby and Mangles made their adventurous journey
to Moab and Gilead. At a later period the dolmens have
been briefly described by Dr. Tristram; and some of the
menhirs have been visited and measured by Herr Conrad
Schick.

XIII. Among all the monuments of the country
there is certainly none, if the associations claimed for
it be allowed, which arc of greater interest than that
supposed by Captain Conder to be none other than
the Golgotha and the Tomb near it. He says
{Quarterly Statement, 1881, p. 201) :

1 find that the identification of the hill above Jeremiah's
Grotto with the probable site of Calvary, which depends
mainly on the fact that, according to Jewish tradition, this
was the ancient place of public execution, has found favour
with a l.irge number of intelligent readers. I have already
explained that we are indebted to Dr. Chaplin for discover-
ing the tradition ; but there are several facts in connection
with this most interesting question which I have only
recently ascertained.

The modern Arab name of the place is el Heidhemnyeh
("torn down"), but this is a corruption of the earlier
AdJieiniyeh as given by Mejr ed Din, and there seems no
doubt that it is derived from the tomb of a son of the
famous Edhem, a historical character. The Sheikh of the
Jerusalem Haram gave me this explanation, which is con-
firmed by Dr. Chaplin. It appears also from Mejr ed Din,
that the neighbourhood immediately east was called es
Sahira, and was an ill-omened place connected in the
imagination of Moslems with death and judgment (like the
Kedron Valley beyond it). Possibly in this we may have

THE. MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY.

187

some trace of the ill-omened site of the ancient place of
execution.

Another point concerning this hillock has been noticed
by recent visitors, who have seen in its outline a resem-
blance to a skull. This was mentioned to me by the Rev.
A. Henderson, but I could not then remember the circum-
stance. On walking from the north-east corner of Jerusalem
towards the rock I perceived, however, what was meant.
The rounded summit and the two hollow cave entrances
beneath do, indeed, give some resemblance to a skull, as
may be seen in a photograph taken from this point of view
by Lieutenant Mantell, which I enclose. It is the skull of

Nuwly dibcoviired Tonil), 200 yards west of Jcicmiah's (JroUo. —
View from East.

»88 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

an animal rather than of a human being, and I should not
like to base an argument on so slight a resemblance. It is,
however, of interest to note the fact, as many persons
consider that Golgotha was a name derived from the form
of the ground, rather than from the use of the site as a
place of burial or of execution.

It is more important to notice that the site of Jeremiah's
Grotto is peculiarly fitted for a place of execution in con-
sequence of its commanding position. From the summit
the eye roams above the city walls over the greater part of
Jerusalem, while on the west the ground rises beyond the
intervening valley like a theatre. There is hardly another
spot near Jerusalem so fitted to be the central point for
any public spectacle.

Still more interesting is a discovery which I made about
a week ago of an indisputably Jewish tomb immediately
west of the knoll in question. It has only recently been
opened, and has not been as yet described, I believe, by
any visitor. It is cut in the east face of a very curious
rock platform measuring about 70 paces either way — as
shown on the Ordnance Survey about 200 yards west of the
grotto. The platform is roughly scarped on all sides, in an
apparently artificial manner, and on the west is a higher
piece of rock, also with sides rudely scarped. The rest of
the space is fairly level, but there seem to be traces of the
foundations of a surrounding wall in some low mounds near
the edge of the platform. I have long been aware of the
existence of a curious cistern in the north-east corner of this
scarp. It has a domed roof with a man-hole, and also a
door with a passage 10 ft. long and 3 ft. wide, leading out
eastwards. The cistern is about 8 paces in diameter, and
three steps lead down from the door to the level of the
cistern floor. The excavation seems originally to have been
a chamber afterwards converted into a cistern, and there are

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY.

189

sockets for the door hinges and for bolts in the passage
entrance.

The ancient tomb is some thirty paces further south, and
the entrance is also from the east. The whole is very rudely

SECTION ON C. D

I

iScwly (libcuvered JewiMi Ti iiih near the oily, 200 ) arils wcsl of
Jercn.iah's Grotto.

190 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

cut in rock, which is of inferior quahty. The doorway is
much broken, and there is a loophole or window 4 ft. wide
either side of the door. The outer court, cut in the rock,
is 7 ft. square, and two stones are so placed in this as to
give the idea th:it they may have held in place a rolling
stone l)efore the door. On the right (or north) is a side
entrance, leading into a chamber with a single loculus, and
thence into a cave, some 8 paces square and 10 ft. high,
with a well-nioulh in the roof.

The chamber within the tomb entrance is reached by a
descent of two steps, and measures 6 ft. by 9 ft. From
either side wall and from the back wall is an entrance 20
in wide and about 5^ ft. high, leading into a side chamber.
A passage runs in continuation of each entrance for 4-^ ft.,
and on each side is a bench about 2^ ft. wide and 2^ ft.
high. A similar bench occurs at the end, the whole width
of each chamber being thus 5^^ ft., its length 7 ft. 2 in., and
its height from 5 to 6 ft. Each would contain two bodies
lying beside the passage, but there would scarcely be room
for three. In addition to these three chambers, there are
two excavations on the floor-level, in the further corner of
the central chamber. They are about 5 ft. scjuare, with
narrow entrances, and were scattered with human bones at
the time of my visit.

The discovery of this tomb is of no little importance in
connection with Jerusalem topography. If it be compared
with the great cemetery at Sheik Ibreik, and with the
monument of Helena at Jerusalem, it will be seen to belong
to the later Jewish period — the centuries immediately pre-
ceding the Christian era. It is not a Christian tomb, so
far as can be judged, for ihe Christians in Palestine seem
mainly to have used the " rock-sunk " tomb. A cemetery of
tombs of the form commonly used by the Crusaders was
found in 1873 near the north-east angle of the Jerusalem

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 191

eity walls, bat no Jewish tomb has ever been found before
so close to the ramparts of the modern city on the north :
the next nearest being the tomb discovered in 1873, about
300 yards further north.

It would be bold to hazard the suggestion that the single
Jewish sepulchre thus found is indeed the tomb in the
garden nigh unto the place called Golgotha, which belonged
to the rich Joseph of Arimathea ; yet its appearance so near
the old place of execution, and so far from the other tombs
in the other cemeteries of the city, is extremely remarkable.
I am sorry to say that a group of Jewish houses is growing
up round the spot. The rock is being blasted for building-
stone, and the tomb, unless preserved, may perhaps soon
be entirely destroyed. It is now in a disgusting condition
of filth, which shov.'s that the Jews have little reverence for
the old sepulchres of their ancestors. Perhaps some of our
readers might feel willing to redeem this most interesting
monument from its present state of desecration, and to
purchase and enclose the little plot of rocky ground in which
it stands. Without such preservatit)n the sepulchre is doomed
to destruction sooner or later.

The platform of rock in which the tomb is cut seems
possibly to have been the base of a group of towers with a
scarped foundation.

The distance from the monument of Helena, and the
p-jsition with respect to the Cotton Grotto, agrees with the
description given by Josephus of the position of the
"Women's Towers " {see " Handbook to the Bible," p. 342).
If the third w'all actually extended over this Hue, it is
easy to explain why no other tombs of the same period
exist so close to the present city. The extension of the
fortifications rendered it necessary to remove the cemetery
further off, since the Jews did not allow sepulture within the
walls. The cisterns may have belonged to the period when

192 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

the great towers were here erected, and the passage with
steps may even have been a postern from the towers.

If we could feel any reasonable certitude that in this
single Jewish tomb (dating about the time of Christ) we
have recovered the actual sepulchre in which He lay, an
easy explanation of the loss of the site is afforded at once ;
for the construction, some ten years later, of the " Women's
Towers " by Agrippa, uj)on the rock over the tomb, would
have caused the monument to be hidden beneath, or within
the new buildings ; and thus the sepulchre could no longer
be visited, and in course of time its existence was forgotten
until the zealous Helena destroyed the Venus Temple on
the present site of the Holy Sepulchre Church, and
" beyond all hope " (as Eusebius words it) discovered the
rock-cut Jewish tomb, which the faithful accepted as the
tomb of Christ.

f

XIV. Jacob's Well.

This well was examined by the late Major
Anderson, who was lowered to the bottom in the year
1866. He thus described it : —

Jacob's Well is situated at the spot where the Vale of
Shechem merges into the Plain of El Mukna, and the site
is acknowledged by Jews, Moslems, and Christians. The
existence of a well sunk to a great depth in a place where
watersprings on the surface are abundant is sufficiently
remarkable to give this well a peculiar history. It is
remarkably characteristic of the prudence and forethought
of the great Patriarch, who, having purchased a parcel of
ground at the entrance of the vale, secured on his own
property, by dint of great toil, a perennial supply of water
at a time when the adjacent watersprings were in the hands
of unfriendly, if not actually hostile neighbours.

THE' MONUMENTS OE THE COUNTRY. 193

In the midst of a mass of ruined stones, among which
are two or three columns still standing, is a vaulted chamber
about 15 ft. square, and in the floor of the chamber are
two openings 4 ft. apart, one of which is the proper mouth
of the well. The other opening is either an accidental
breach, or has been designedly made in a rough and
ready way for the convenience of having two mouths, by
which pitchers could be lowered into the well simulta-
neously. The true mouth of the well has a narrow opening
just wide enough to allow the body of a man to pass
through with arms uplifted, and this narrow neck, which is
about 4 ft. long, opens out into the well itself, which is
cylindrically shaped and about 7 ft. 6 in. in diameter.
The mouth and upper part of the well is built of masonry,
and the well appears to have been sunk through a mixture
of alluvial soil and limestone fragments till a compact
bed of mountain limestone was reached, having horizontal
strata which could be easily worked, and the interior of
the well presents the appearance of being lined throughout
witli rough masonry.

The well, when examined in 1866, was only 75 ft.
deep, but there can be no doubt that the original depth
was much greater, as quantities of rubbish have fallen
mto the well from the ruins of the buildings that formerly
covered it, and passers-by for many centuries have probably
thrown stones into it. Robinson states that the well in
1838 was 105 ft. deep, and if his measurement is correct,
debris to a depth of 30 ft. has accumulated in thirty-
eight years. In 1875 the depth was found by Lieutenant
Conder to be 75 ft., the same as in 1866. The well
was undoubtedly sunk to a great depth for the purpose
of securing, even in exceptionally dry seasons, a supply of
water, which at great depths would always be filtering
through the sides of the well and would collect at the

N

194 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

bottom. When examined in April, 1866, the well was dry,
but an earthenware pitcher was found at the bottom of the
well and not broken, which would indicate that water still
collects in the well at some seasons, as the pitcher would
have been broken had it fallen upon the stones.

The vaulted chamber over the well might possibly be
the crypt of the church f)uilt over tlie well about the fourth
century.* Arculphus, one of the early travellers in Pales-
tine, describes the church in the form of a cross and the
well in the middle ; but by the time of the Crusaders the
church was destroyed, and subsequent travellers who
visited the well mention only the ruins around it.

It would be a matter of the greatest interest if the
Committee were enabled, through the liberality of Dr.
Rogers and Miss Peache, not only to clear out the well,
but to excavate and disclose to view the foundations of one
of the earliest cruciform churches. It would then be for
consideration how to give effect to the proposal to surround
and protect the well with stonework.

The accompanying woodcut illustrates the state of the
vault as it appeared nine years ago, but since then many of
the stones composing it, and probably all the well-cut stones
in the adjacent ruins, have been removed to supply materials
for the new Turkisli barrack, situated half a mile distant in
the direction of Nablus.

The following is the most recent account of it : —

Very probably some short account of a recent visit that I
paid to Nablous may be of some interest to the many
readers of the Quarterly Statement. The state of Jacob's

* In the Quarterly Statctncnt, Jan. 1874, p. 6, reference is made to
the church at Abu Ghosh, named after St. Jerome, where excavations
have disclosed a crj'pt, forming a complete subterranean church, which
contains a cave or cistein filled with water.

{To /cut p. 195.

R UINED VAULT VEli
JACOB'S WELL.

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'm
o
o
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o

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o

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u

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Limestone:-j^^
Bock a/j^2p-

^ (Mason ry

^ J)epfhofWell JSftr.

me

ft DictmeCer ^. 6in .

a. a„ Upeninys
jn to We 71

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I Plan nf CIturcJt

- built oi'erjacoii JVrJl
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r,l,vt><;"-

THE MONUMEXTS OF THE COUNTRY. 195

Well is doubtless well known to the majority of your
subscribers, even to those who have not themselves visited
the Holy Land. It has again and again been described by
the many writers on Palestine, and all have mentioned their
uisappointment that instead of finding any semblance to a
well, or anything which could recall the interview of our
Lord with the woman of Samaria, they have merely found
a dark irregular hole amid a mass of ruins in a vaulted
chamber beneath the surface of the ground. I have shared
this disappointment on many previous visits to Nablous,
and again, as a fortnight ago I stood with my wife beside
the spot, it was with great regret that we were so utterly
unable to picture before us the scene so graphically
described by the Evangelist. We had clambered down into
the vault, and were vainly attempting to pee'- into the dark
hole amid the heaps of stones and rubbish, when we
chanced to notice, a few feet from the opening, a dark
crack between the stones. Fancying that possibly it
might be another opening of the well, we removed some
stones and earth, and soon were able to trace part of a
carved aperture in a large slab of stone. Deeply interested
at fmding thi<;, we cleared away more earth and stones, and
soon distinguished the circular mouth of the well, though it
was blocked by an immense mass of stone. Calling to aid
two men who were looking on, with considerable labour
we at length managed to remove it, and the opening of the
well was clear. It is impossible to describe our feelings as
we gazed down the open well, and sat on that ledge on
which doubtless the Saviour rested, and felt with our fingers
the grooves in the stone caused by the roi)es by which the
water-pots were drawn up. The following day we devoted
to comi)letely excavating round the opening of the well, and
laying bare the massive stone which forms its mouth. This
consists of the hard white limestone of the country, and is

N 2

196

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

in fair preservation, thougli parts are broken away here and
there. The annexed rude sketch gives some idea of its

appearance.

The exact measurements I also give : —

Length

Breadth

Thickness ...

Height above the pavement

Breadth of aperture of the well

Depth of the well ...

Width

We let a boy down to the bottom, but found nothing of
any interest, but evidently there is a large accumulation of
rubbish, I trust that a stone of such intense interest may

ft.

m.

3

9

2

7

6

I

5i

67

6

THE: MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 197

long remain uninjured now that it has been exposed to light.
— I am, yours faithfully, Charles Wright Barclay.

The Rev. John Mill in his " Three Months' Residence
at Nablus," published in 1864, at p. 4.5, states in reference
to Jacob's Well, that "in 1855, when we first visited this
place, we measured it as carefully as we could, and found it
to be 9 ft. in diameter, and a little more than 70 ft. deep.
But older travellers found it much deeper. . . . On
my second visit in i860, the mouth of the well was
completely filled U|>, so that it was v^•ith difficulty I could
identify the spot where it was. Nor could I learn how this
had occurred. Some of my friends at Nablus thought that
the torrents during the rains of the pievious winter were the
cause ; but others believed that it was done by the inhabitants
of the little village close by, on account of the well being
bought by the Greek Church. The well, however, was
completely hid from sight, to the great disappointment of
many travellers beside myself.

"On further inquiry I learnt from the Greek priest tha
their Church had actually bought the well from the Turkish
Government, including a plot of ground surrounding it, of
229 ft. by 180 ft. For this they had paid, he told me,
70,000 piastres; but another friend, belonging to the same
community, told me it was at least 100,000."

Mr. Mill also mentions that the Christians call it Beer
Saniariyek, the " Samaritan Well," while the Samaritan ;
themselves call it Beer Jacub, or " Jacob's Well." He also
points out that it is not an Ai?i (b^), a well of living water,
but a ber ("^^3.)' ^ cistern to hold rain water.

XV. The vase of the Temple.

This little vase which Warren found inserted in a
receptacle on the rock close to the lowest stone of the

198

TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Temple — S.E. corner— must not be forgotten. The
late Dr. Birch wrote of it : —

The little vase which you left accompanies the present
letter. It is of rather rude shape and coarse terra-cotta, and
closely resembles some in the British Museum, said to have
been found in Rachel's tomb at Bethlehem. As there was

also found at the same site a shell engraved with figures,
and partly carved, which might be as old as the fourth or
fifth century B.C., it is just possible that the vase, which
resembles Egyptian ware in shape, might be as old as that
period, but there are no data to my knowledge from
inscriptions on this class of pottery to determine its actual
age.

There are many other monuments in Palestine, for
which the reader is referred to the memoirs of the
survey. Among them arc the synagogues of Galilee
{see volume called Special Papers, " The Synagogues

THE MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. 199

of Galilee," by Sir Charles Wilson) ; the Crusading
castles {see the memoirs, each under its name) ; the
Crusaders' churches, the tombs, the great ruined
towns and fortresses, such as Caesarea, Athlit, Masada,
Arak-el Emir, Amman, Petra, Tyre, &c., the Samaritan
Temple and its documents, the Phoenician remains in
the north, the aqueducts, ancient roads, &c., all of
which may be found fully described in the memoirs.

We have thus briefly run through the principal
gains to our knowledge of the country, acquired by the
Society during the last twenty years. It will be
acknowledged that we have been enabled to pour a
flood of light upon almost every head of enquiry
possible to the Biblical student. We shall presently
consider the subject of what remains to be done.

Among other things that the Society has accom-
plished is the awakening of a general interest over
the whole of Christendom in the subject. There
have been founded within the last twelve years, an
American, a German, and a Russian society for the
exploration of Palestine. The two latter are in
vigorous life, each with its Journal like ourselves.
The first is unfortunately defunct. But one of its
explorers, Dr. Selah Merrill, is still in Jerusalem as
American Consul, and doing good work for the cause.

The foundation of the Palestine Pilgrim's Text
Society is another indication of interest in the whole
subject. This little society has already issued three

200 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

texts, one of w hich, the Translation of Procopius, on
the buildint^s of Justinian, is, with its admirable
dra\vin<^s and \-aluable notes, a production worthy of
the greatest admiration. It has three others in type
waiting to be annotated.

The foundation of the Societe de TOrient Latin,
directed by M. le Comtc Riant, cannot be attributed
to English influence, but it is an institution which,
like the Pilgrims' Text Society, promises to render
the highest services to the Palestine student.

20I

CHAPTER XII.

OBITUARY.

In the space of twenty-one years the Society has
naturally had to lament the loss by death of many
supporters and friends. Among those who have
actually worked for the Society in the field we have
lost four. Mr. Charles F. Tyrwhitt Drake, the first of
these, who died exhausted by fever and asthma in
June, 1874, at the early age of 28, at the time
when his knowledge of the country and the
people, with a daily increasing grasp of the pro-
blems awaiting solution, made him of the greatest
service to the Society's work. The second. Major
Anderson, R.E., who was with Wilson on the Pre-
liminary Expedition of 1865, died in the autumn of
1880, at the comparatively early age of 42. The
third is the late Rev. F. W. Holland, Vicar of
Evesham, who had made the Sinai Peninsula his own
field of study. It was he who carried out the project
of surveying the Peninsula, which was executed by
Sir Charles Wilson in the year 1869. He visited the
country six times. Up to the date of his death,
which was in the year 1879, he acted with Sir George
Grove as an hon. secretary of the Society. The last,

202 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Prof. Edward Henry Palmer, was taken from the
world by the tragic fate which is still in everybody's
memory. His loss is one which can never be
replaced.

Among the members of the Committee who have
left us may be mentioned, first, those who were
distinguished as travellers in Palestine, and writers on
the Holy Land. These are Dean Stanley, always
the most sincere friend and supporter of the
Society, to which he bequeathed a small collection
of books ; the Rev. George Williams, author of "The
Holy City "; and Mr. James Fergusson, the author of
the Theory on the Sacred Sites, which caused so keen
a controversy.

His first book on the subject appeared in the year
1847, and he never swerved, save in some small
details, from the opinion there laid down, that the
Dome of the Rock is nothing else than the Basilica of
Constantine, erected over the Holy Sepulchre. He
based this opinion upon the drawings of the building
made by Catherwood. It involved two other theories,
namcl\% that the Temple must necessarily have stood
in the south-west corner of the Haram Area, and that
the present so-called Church of the Holy Sepulchre
could be nothing but a church built over a site
fraudulently asserted to be that of the Sepulchre by
the monks. Nothing that was afterwards discovered
in the city by Wilson, Warren, Conder, and others,

OBITUARY. 203

ever shook him in this opinion, nor did any of the
numerous books and arguments, advanced by his
opponents, ever convince him that he was wrong.
He died in January of the present year, and it now
remains to be seen whether any one will be found to
maintain the theory which he advanced and defended
so obstinately and with so much success that it has
been suffered to remain unquestioned for twenty-one
years in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. We had
also, at the end of the year 1879, to regret the sudden
death of Mr. Hepworth Dixon, for some time the
Chairman of the Executive Committee.

As to those former members of the Committee
who were in their lifetime the supporters of the
Society, to enumerate them is almost to read a roll
of English worthies of the Victorian age. For in-
stance, among the long list are the honoured names of
Archbishop Tait, Bishop Wilberforce, Bishop Jackson,
Emmanuel Deutsch, Prof Donaldson, Lord Derby,
Dean Howson, Lord Dunraven, Dr. Keith Johnstone,
Sir Antonio Panizzi, Lord Lawrence, Sir Moses
Montefiore, Lord Ossington, Dr. Norman McLeod,
Dr. Pusey, Earl Russell, Sir Gilbert Scott, Mr. W.
Spottiswoode, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord
Shaftesbury, Lord Strangford, Sir William Tito, Lord
Zetland, and Mr. W. S. W. Vaux.

204

CHAPTER XIIT.

TIIK WORK OF THE FUTURE

quiry into the manners and customs of the people ; or
(3) we may pubHsh the MSS., maps, and plans in our
hands.

(i) Survey work.

THE WORK OF THE FUTURE. ^05

We have already accomplished the survey of
Western Palestine. But nearly the whole of the East,
together with the North and South, awaits the surveyor.
The duty of the Committee is clearly marked out by
their original prospectus, as regards survey work, viz.,
to continue it until not an acre is left which has not
been surveyed and laid down and not a ruin which
has not been examined.

(2) Excavations.

The only excavations made by the Society are
those at Jerusalem. There are, however, very many
other sites which would well repay excavation, and
it is intended to take up this branch of the work
seriously as soon as funds allow and opportunity
occurs. There is, however, one special piece of work
which is at the present moment most urgent, and lies
open to us and ready to our hands. It is this. By
the accident of recent building operations in Jerusalem,
a portion of a wall was laid bare (it is now covered up
again) which seems likely to be no other than the
ancient Second Wall. The portion uncovered was
120 ft. long, 10 ft. broad, with a rock scarp outside it
at least 15 ft. deep. Its masonry is exactl}' similar
to that in "David's To\\er " with the well-known
marginal draft, such as is found on the lowest courses
and the more ancient portions of the Temple wall.

It is on every account desirable that this discovery
should be at once followed up. The course of the

2o6 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

second wall involves, among many other important
things, nothing less than the authenticity of the Holy
Places. For if it should prove to run in such a
manner as to include within itself the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, in that case the whole of the
traditional sites, the so-called sepulchre itself, with
all the sacred associations, traditions, and legends
gathered round it will fall to pieces at once by the
mere force of that one fact. They could no longer
be defended even by the stoutest upholder of tradition,
because one thing is perfectly certain and cannot be
denied, viz. : that the tomb of Our Lord was without
the city wall. If, on the other hand, the present and
traditional site of the Holy Sepulchre is proved to
have been zvitJiout the Second Wall, then the partisans
of tradition will be enormously strengthened, and,
though the battle between the present site as advo-
cated by George Williams and his following, those who
advocate the site proposed by Fergusson, and those
who incline to that proposed by Captain Conder may
still be carried on, the advantage of early tradition,
not disproved by excavation, will still remain with the

first.

It is proper to state that, in the opinion of Herr

Conrad Schick, who has long resided in the city and

studied its problems, the Second Wall will be found to

follow a course (which he has indicated) which will

not include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The

THE WORK OF THE FUTURE. 207

tombs which now exist under the present buildings
will then be proved to have formed part of a Jewish
cemetery without the wall, and yet close to it.

(3) The manners and customs of the people.

Something has been already done in this direction.
Observations have been made by Mrs. Finn, Aliss
Rogers, M. Clermont Ganneau, Mr. Klein, and, so far as
opportunity occurred, by our own officers. But these
observations have hitherto been made without method
and on no scientific principle. The time has now come,
and the opportunity, when an inquiry can be under-
taken into the whole field of what we call manners
and customs, and this, not in Palestine only, but over
the whole of Syria and the adjacent countries. The
Committee have placed themselves in communication
with the Anthropological Society, the Folklore
Society, and other learned bodies, and with their
assistance, and the help of Captain Conder, to whom
belongs the principal credit of the work, they have
prepared a set of questions covering the religion,
tradition, folklore, arts, customs, proverbs, &c., of the
various people inhabiting the country. These ques-
tions are arranged according to the people for whom
they are intended. The subscribers of the Society
were invited at the outset of the work, which has not
been hurried, to send in questions ; many complied
with this invitation. Captain Conder wishes to take
this opportunity of informing those whose questions

2oS TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

have been given to him, that he believes they will
all be found, though perhaps in different forms, in the
questions prepared by him. Thus, though it is most
important that the (lucstions should serve the
purpose of Biblical illustration, it is necessary that
they should not be so put as to suggest a 13iblical
bearing and therefore an obvious answer. Tho.se
questions now ready will be placed in the proper
hands immediately, and the results will be duly
published.

(4) Publication of work already done.
It must be remembered that work is not completed
until it is published. There is a general tendency
among the supporters of our enterprise to discontinue
or to suspend their support at those times when there
is no party in the field. Now, first of all, the \\ork
of the Society in the Holy Land itself, as may be
seen from the Quarterly Statement, is never stopped.
Grants are always required for some piece of work or
other. But, secondly, when the results come home
they have to be published or they are useless.

Now there is at present in the hands of the Com-
mittee, a whole mass of work which loudly calls for
publication. It consists of —

I. Captain Conder's Survey of Eastern Pales-
tine. This amounts to as much letterpress
as would fill a volume of the " Survey of
Western Palestine," w ith hundreds of draw-

THE WORK OF THE FUTURE. 209

ings and places. The cost of publication
would be about ^1,000.

2. M. Lecomte's drawings, made for the Com-

mittee under M. Clermont Ganneau's super-
vision. There are about 700 of these, mostly
quite small, representing architectural details
and ruins. They are drawn with extreme
delicacy and beauty, and form a most
remarkable addition to the archaeology of
the country. The cost of publication would
be about ^1,200.

3. Mr. Chichester Hart's "Memoir on the Natural

History of the Wady Arabah." Tlie illus-
trations for this memoir are already drawn.
It would not cost more than about /■200.

4. We are also expecting another instalment of

work from Herr G. Schumacher, in addition
to that already published under the title
" Across the Jordan."

5. The answers to the questions about to be sent

to the Holy Land will also have to be pub-
lished when they have been arranged and
digested.

The Committee, therefore, think that they may
fairly ask their friends to mark the twenty-first anni-
versary of the foundation of the Society by raising
the sum necessary to accomplish the above objects,

viz., — to recapitulate: — ■

O

2IO TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

1. The prosecution of the discovery of the

Second Wall, or of the wall which may
prove to be the Second Wall.

2. The promotion of the inquiry into the

manners and customs of the various people
inhabiting the Bible lands.

3. The publication of the various MSS. now in

the hands of the Committee.
The history of the Society has now been briefly
treated from the beginning. It has been shown that
the Committee have been steadily at work without
intermission for twenty-one years. The Biblical
gains have been so great that the whole of the
topography and geography of the country have been
reconstructed ; as regards Jerusalem, we now know
and understand the magnificence on which Josephus
dwells with what was previously believed to be
l)atriotric exaggeration ; everything which has been
examined shows the minute accuracy, so far as places
are concerned, of the historical portions of the Bible,
as, for instance, in the case of many towns men-
tioned in the Book of Joshua, sites have been re-
covered simply by observing the order in which they
are placed. Then, including those finds which are
not the property, so to speak, of the Society, we have
in the Moabite Stone and the Siloam inscription
documents contemporary with the kings of Judah and
Israel, and written in the same character (from which

THE WORK OF THE FUTURE. 211

our own is descended) that was employed by the writers
of the Old Testament books ; in the stone of Herod's
Temple we have actually one of those boundary
stones which stood in the courts, trodden by the feet
of Our Lord ; in the Gezer inscriptions we have the
ancient town boundaries ; in the Head of Hadrian we
have the very image which, placed upon the site of the
Holy of Holies, finally provoked the Jews to their last
and most desperate revolt ; in the cromlechs and stone
circles of the east, and in the high places of the west
we have the remains of the old sun worship, which
the Israelites were commanded to drive out of the land ;
we can for the first time follow David in his wanderings,
and the campaigns of the Jewish warriors, Judges and
Kings ; we know the birds, the beasts, the reptiles, and
the fishes of the land ; we know the trees, the plants,
and the flowers ; nay, we know the very rocks, the
foundations of the land. More than this, and out-
side the Bible, the country is covered with remains
of Canaanite, Israelite, Phcenician, Greek, Roman,
Christian, Saracen, Frank and Mohammedan. Their
cemeteries, temples, synagogues, and castles are
dotted over the whole country. We can read these
monuments so as to discern between all these people.
We can assign to the Crusader the stones which he
dressed for his castle ; to the Jew, his synagogue; to
the early Christian, his hermitage ; and to the

Saracen, his khan ; to each tomb we can assign a

O 2

212 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

class and the period of its first construction, whether
it be the splendid monument known as Joshua's
Tomb, which was certainly constructed for some
prince in Israel, or the tomb in the garden near the
Place of Stoning, which is the Hill of the Skull,
where, as Captain Condcr thinks, is the " new Tomb,"
in which no man had lain until there was brought
thither a certain dead Body from a cross, and a great
stone was rolled across the door, and two women sat
weeping without.

21-

APPENDIX I

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE
FUND'S WORK.

1865. Foundation of the Society, June 22nd, 1865.

Patron — The Queen. President — The Archbishop
of York. Hon. Treas. — John Abel Smith and
Robert CulHng Hanbury. Hon. Sec— George
Grove.

Drawing up of the Original Prospectus.

Meetings and Letters to the Papers.

Organisation of First Expedition.

1866. First Expedition of Captain Wilson, R.E., and

Lieutenant Anderson, R.E.

Publications — Captain Wilson's Letters and
Report.

1867. Consideration of question whether the survey or

the excavations at Jerusalem should be next
carried on.
Despatch of Lieutenant Warren with a party of non-
commissioned officers of Royal Engineers for the
excavations.
1868.1 Excavations at Jerusalem.
1869. ? Discovery of the Moabite stone.
1870. -I Discovery (by M. Clermont Ganneau) of the Stone
of the Temjile.
Survey of Sinai.
Return of Captain Warren.

Publications — Lieutenant Warren's Letters, L-
XXXIV.

214 riVENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

Comniencement of Quarterly Statement.,
March, 1869.
1871. Palmer's Journey through the Desert of the Tih.

Restilts — Departure of the survey Expedition,

October.
Publications— Pahner's Report

Warren on the Plains of PhiHstia.
Pahner's Notes on Lebanon.
Papers by Hyde Clarke, Clermont Ganneau
Palmer's Hist, of the Haram Esh Sherif.
First Paper on the Hamath Inscriptions.
All in the Quarterly Statetnent.

iHf2. First year of the survey — Captain Stewart is com-
pelled by ill-health to resign — Lieutenant Conder
takes his place — Despatch of an American Ex-
]jedition to survey Eastern Palestine.

Results — One thousand square miles surveyed;
identification of Tell Jezer with Gezer ;
discovery of a great aqueduct from the
souterrain at the Convent of the Sisters of
Zion (now considered by Sir Charles
Wilson as the Pool of Bethcsda).
Publications — Arabic Names and Plans, by
Captain Warren.
East of Jordan, Expedition to, by Rev. A.

E. Northey.
Meteorology, by James Glaisher, F.R.S.
Palestine and Cuneiform Inscriptions, by

George Smith.
Temple Middoth, Tract on the Measure-
ments of.

All in the Quarterly Statement.
Our Work in Palestine. First edition.
1873. Continuation of survey — 2,000 square miles accom-

A'FFENDIX /. 21 :

plished — Special surveys of Athlit, Caesarea,

Miamas, Kuliinsavvieh, Tantura, El Midieh, Deir

Asrur,
Joshua's tomb.
Discovery of a Samaritan inscription (Deuteronomy

iv. 29-31) at Gaza.
First publication, of the Rock Levels of Jerusalem.
The " Moabite Pottery " forgery^
Report on the Baalbek Ruins, by Captain Conder.

Papers- in the Quarterly Statement — ■

" Ebal and G-orizim," by Captain Wilson.
The Comparativ-e Chronology of Palestine,

Egypt, and Assyria, by F. R. Conder.
Proposed Restoration of the Hamath

Inscriptions..
Notes on Jerusalem Discoveries, by C. W.

Wilson.

1874. Archaeological Mission of M. Clermont Ganneau
(Nov. 1873 to Nov. 1874).

Results — Discovery of early Christian sarco-
phagi ; the Head of Hadrian ; identifica-
tion of Stone of Bohan \ the Cave of
Adullam ; opening of tombs at the Khur-
bet Kurman ; collection of legends ; indi-
cation of distinctive character of stones
cut by the Crusaders \ excavating a sepul-
chral cave near the Mount of Olives ; dis-
covery and plan of an ancient cemetery
N.E. of Jerusalem ; identification of ]^lount
Scopus ; discovery of the Moabite for-
geries ; excavations in the Haram ; exami-
nation of the Kubbet es Sakhra ; excava-
tion of rock-cut chambers near the Ecce
Homo Arch ; identification of the Forest

2i6 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

of Harith ; flint implements near Jerusalem ;
Kurn Surtabeh and its associations ; dis-
covery of the "Boundary of Gezer"; dis-
covery of an ancient Arabic inscription in
the Haram ; the "Vase of Bezetha," &c.,
together with plans, sections, drawings,
&c., by M. Lecomtc (still unpublished).
Continuation of the Survey (3,000 square miles
completed) — Examination of the cave called
Mugharet Umm el Tuweimeh, plans of Fureidis,
Kusr el Yahud, Kusr el Hajlah, Deir el Kelt,
Kalaat Hathrurah, site of Gilgal, aqueducts in the
Plain of Jericho, Suk Wady Barada, El Midieh
(iModin), Rh. Ikbala, Yerzeh, Kaukab el Hawa,
Beisan, identification of Antipatris and TEnon,
discovery of rude stone monuments, &c.
Death of Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake.

Quarterly Statement — Mr, James Glaisher on
Meteorolcg)' of Palestine. Exposure of
the Moabite forgeries.

1875. Continuation of the survey up to July, when an
attack upon the parly at Safed caused their with-
drawal from the country.

Results — Identificationsof Alt- xandrium, Azckah,
the Rock Etam, Chozeba, the tower of Ader.
Maarath, Arab, Cliff of Ziz, Zanoah, Zi])h
Hareth, the Valley of Blessing, Bezeih
K.ock of Maon, Hachilah, Debir, Shocoh.
Examination and special surveys of El
Ramah, Mugharet Suffa, ISIakkedah, Masada
(iath, Keslah, (ierar, Umm el Amdan, Aziz,
Susieh Kh. Khoreisa, Kh. el Mintar, Kh.
Bir el Seba, and El Ghurra ; examination
of Pilate's Aqueduct ; Levitical boundary

APPENDIX I. 217

of Eshtemoa; essays on the site of Nob,
David's outlaw life, the rock scarp of Zion,
mediaeval topography of Palestine, the
tempie of Herod, the tomb of David, the
site of Adullam, ancient Jewish graves, and
the Arabs in Palestine.

Excavations on Mount Zion, and discovery of part

of the Frst Wall.
Journey of Mr. Greville Chester to er Ruad.

1876. In this year the whole party remained at home, and

were engaged in office work. The amount of
survey work brought home covered the whole of
Western Palestine with the exception of 1,400
square miles.
The following important papers were communicated
to the Committee by Captain Conder :—

On the Early Christian Topography of Palestine ;
on Rock-cut Tombs ; on Proposed Tests
for the Survey ; on the First Traveller in
Palestine ; on Palestine before Joshua ; on
the Language of the Native Peasantry ; on
the Fertility of Palestine ; on Samaritan
Topography, &c.

1877. The survey of Western Palestine was resumed by

Lieutenant Kitchener, R.E., and completed in the
teeth of difficulties, owing to the general excite-
ment and the chances of immediate war.
The following papers were communicated by
Captain Conder : —

On Megiddo ; on Christian and Jewish Tradi-
tions ; on the Boundaries of Ephraim,
Manasseh and Issachar ; on Nob ; on the
Moslem Mukams, and others.

2i8 rWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORR.

M. Clermont Ganneau contributed a valuable
paper on the tombs undc-r the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, and Sir Charles
Wilson various notes on recent discoveries.

1878. Office work and preparation of maps and memoirs.

Publications — Papers on many points connected
with the survey, especially on Joshua's
Tomb ; on Architecture in Palestine ; the
Site of Ai ; the Survey of Galilee, (S:c.

Discovery of the Stone of Bethphage.

Publication of Captain Conder's Tent Work in
Palestine.

1879. Preparation of memoirs and maps.

Publications— On the Transference of Sites, by
William Simpson ; on the Fellaheen of
Palestine, by A\'m. Finn ; on a Journey on
Foot through Arabia Petrsea, by F. W.
Holland ; on Modern Researches in
Palestine, by Selah Merrill ; on a Journey
into Moab, by Conrad Schick.

Death of Mr. Hepworth Dixon.

1880. Publication of the Great Map, and reduction for the

engraving of the small map — Printing of memoirs.
Publications — Klein's Journey into Moab;
Greville Chester's Journey through the
Cities of the Delta, and Examination oi
the Lacus Serbonicus; Sir Charles Wilson's
Treatise on the Masonry of the Haram Wall.
Discovery — The Inscription of the Pool of Siloam.

1881. Commencement of the survey of Eastern Palestine.

Discoveries— lr\scr\\A\on of Baalbek ; Kadesh ol
the Hittites ; inscription at Homs ; the
Egyptian harbour of Tyre ; Bethulia,
the Mountain of the Scape-goat ; Ain

APPENDIX I. 219

Kadis ; the Pool in Gibeon ; Kirjath
Jearim ; Beth Haccerem.

Publications — The Decipherment of the Inscrip-
tion in the Pool of Siloani, by Rev. Pro-
fessor Sayce ; on the Old City of Dera'a,
by Rev. Professor Porter ; Sun Worship
in Syria; the Topography of the Exodus;
the Manners and Customs of the Fella-
heen; the discovery of Ain Quadis, or
Kadis by Professor Trumbull ; on the
Hittites, by W. St. Chad. Boscawen.

First volume of the Memoirs of the " Survey of
Western Palestine," issued this year.

Death of the Rev. F. W. Holland and Major
Anderson, R.E.

1882. Completion of the first 500 square miles of Eastern
Palestine.
Forced return of Captain Conder.

Discoveries — A remarkable Sassanian building at
Amman ; over 600 names formed and
noted ; examination of 200 ruins ; 400
cromlechs sketched ; 36 photographs
taken ; identification of the " Field of
Zophim ;" the Ascent of Luhith, Jazer,
Sibmah, and Minnith ; another gate in
the eastern wall.

Examination of the Hebron Haram by the
Royal Party, accompanied by Sir Charles
Wilson and Captain Conder.

Publications — Archjeological notes by M.
Clermont Ganneau ; the Prince's
Journey through the Holy Land ; Cap-
tain Conder's Reports and Papers, &c.

Death of Professor Palmer.

220 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

1883. Preparation of map and memoirs of Eastern

Palestine.

Publications — Publication of the " Survey of
Western Palestine," Memoirs, Vols. II.
and III. ; Special Papers, Name Lists ;
Papers on the Exodus, the Siloam inscrip-
tions, the Hamath inscriptions, the Sha-
pira MSS., the climate of Jerusalem, &c.

1884. The Geological Expedition — Left England Oct. 18,

1883, returned in the spring of 1884; survey of
Wady Arabah by Lieut-Colonel Kitchener, R.E.

Publications — Completion of the Memoirs of
Western Palestine, by publication of the
Jerusalem volumes and portfolio of plans;
Conder's " Heth and Moab ; " Conder's
"Tent Work in Palestine." Cheap
edition ; Papers in the Quarterly State-
fnent by Sir Charles Wilson, Captain
Conder, Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, &c.

Journey of Mr. Oliphant into the Jaulan.

1885. Survey of a portion of country in the Jaulan

by Herr Schumacher {" Across the Jordan ") ;
Journey of Mr. Guy Le Strange in Eastern
Palestine.

Notes by Mr. Laurence Oliphant on the Jaulan.
Publications — Papers by Canon Tristram,
General Charles Gordon, Captain
Conder, Sir John Coode, Messrs.
Greville Chester, Selah Merrill, W. F.
Birch, Tomkins, Baker-Greene.

221

APPENDIX II.

CAPTAIN CONDER'S IDENTIFICATIONS IN
WESTERN PALESTINE.

N.B. — The Roman Numerals I., II., &zc., refer to the Sheets

of the ]\Iap.

1. Abel Meholah, i Kings iv. 12. Jerome (Onomasticon

S.V., Abel Maula) places this 10 miles south of Scytho-
polis " in Aulone " {i.e., the Jordan Valley) which
indicates the present 'Ain Helweh. (XII.)

2. Abez. Joshua xix. 20. Probably the present ruin el

Beida, at the north end of the plain of Esdraelon.
The Arabic exactly corresponds to the Hebrew with
the same meaning, "white." (VIII.)

3. ^(t/^j-/^^//^. Joshua xix. 25. Wrongly placed by Robinson

near Banias, probably the present village el Yasif,
north-east of Acre. It is often mentioned in Egyptian
records, and the proposed site agrees both with these
and the Biblical indications of situation. (III.)

4. Adami, Joshua xix. 33. The present ruin Adiiia/i, on

the plateau south-west of the Sea of Galilee, in a satis-
factory position with relation to towns noticed in the
context. (IX.)

5. Adasa, Kh 'Adaseh. (XVII.)

6. Adullam; Aid el Mia (Ganneau). (XXI.)

7. Aenon, 'Ainun (Robinson) (XII.)

8. Ai, Haiya. (XVII.)

9. Amad, Joshua xix. 26. Apparently the ruin called

el 'Am lid, north of Acre, in correct relative position.
(III.)

222 TWENTV-ONE YEARS' WORK.

10. Anah, Joshua xv. 50. The ruin 'Auab, west of edh

Dhaheriyeh, incorrectly fixed by Robinson at Deir esh
Shems, east of the same. (XXV.)

11. Ana/iarath, Joshua xix. 19. The village en NaWirah,
in correct relative position to other towns of Issachar.
(IX.)

12. Anon, I Chronicles vi. 73. The village ^An'in, in the

hills west of the plain of Esdraelon, in a satisfactory
position within the border of Manasseh. (VIII.)

13. Aner, i Chronicles vi. 70. i'ossibly the present village

Allar, in the hills south-west of the plain of Esdraelon.

14. Arab, Joshua xv. 32. The present ruin er Rabiyeh in

suitable relative situation. (XXI.)
ic,. Arc/ii,'Ain'Arik. (XVII.)

16. Ataroih Adar, ed Darieh. (XVII.)

17. Baalat/i, Joshua xix. 44; i Kings ix, 18; VIII Ant.

vi. I. Probably the present village Be/a'hi, in a suit-
able position we.:t of Bethhoron and commanding the
main road to Jerusalem. (XIV.)

18. Baal Shalisha. 2 Kings iv. 42. Probably the present

village Kefr Thilth, in suitable situation in the territory
of Ephraim on the lower hills. The Arabic Thiltli is
derived from the Hebrew Shalish ("three "). (XIV.)

19. Bahurim, 'Almit. (XVII.)

20. Berea, Bireh. (XVII.)

21. Betai, Joshua xix. 25. Is identified by Eusebius

(Onomasticon s.v., Bathnai), with a village, Beth Beten,
8 miles east of Acre. This seems to indicate the
\\\\:{gQ: el Baneh. (IV.)

22. Bcthabara, 'Aba rah. (IX.)

23. Beth B)agon, Joshua xix. 27. Probably the present ruin

Till Uauk, in correct relative position near the mouth
of the river Belus. (Compare Dagon or Docus, near
Jericho, now 'Ain Duk.) (\'.)

APPENDIX II. 22-

24. Beth Shemesh (of Issachar), Joshua xix, 22. Possibly

the ruined site ^ Ain esh Shemslyeh, in the Jordan Valley,
(IX.)

25. Bethuiia, MitJiilia. (VIII.)

26. Beto)nesihain (Judith iv. 6). The present ruin Massln.

(VIII.)

27. Bezek, Judges i. 5. Probably the ruin Bezka/i, souih of

Lydda. (XIII.)

28. Bezek, I Samuel xi. 8. Bezik. (XII.)

29. Calvary\ el Heidhemiyeh. (XVII.)

30. Charashiiji (Valley), i Chronicles iv. 14, mentioned in

connection with Lod and Ono (Nehemiah xi. 35). The
name survives at Khiirbet Hirsha, on the bank of the
great valley east of Lydda. (XVII.)

31. Chezlb, Genesis xxxviii 5; Joshua xv. 44. The name
appears to linger at the spring 'Ain Kezbe/i, near Beit
Netdf, in a satisfactory position in relation to other
towns of the same group. Jerome (Onomasticon s.v.)
makes Chasbi a ruined site near AduUam, which agrees.
(XXI.)

32. Clioba or Chobai, Judith iv. 4. The Peutinger Tables
place Coabis 12 miles south of Scythopolis. This
points to the ruin called el Alekhobby, on the ancient
road from Shechem. The name has the meaning
" hiding place." (XII.)

12,. Cbozcba, 1 Chronicles iv. 22. Possibly the ruin
Kuieziba, north-east of Hebron. (XXI.)

34. Dannah ("low ground"), Joshua xv. 49. Probably the

village Idhnah in the low hills. The position ai)pears
suitable. (XXI.)

35. Debir, edh Dhaheriyeh. (XXV.)

36. Diblath, Ezekiel vi. 14. Apparently the village Dibl,

in Upper Galilee, unless it be an error for Riblah.
(IV)

224 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

37. Ebenezer, possibly Deir Abau* (XVII.)

38. Edrei, Joshua xix. 37. Apparently the present village
Y'ater. The relative position is suitable, and the

letters T and D often interchanged. (IV.)

39. Eleasa, The ruin IPasa.

40. E/eph, Joshua xviii. 28. The present village Li/ta,
west of Jerusalem. The situation agrees with the
boundary of Judah. See p. 10.

41. Efon, Joshua xix. 43. Probably the present village,
JSeit Ellii. The relative situation is satisfactory.

42. Elon Beth Hanan ("plain of 13. Hanan "), I Kings iv.
9. Probably the village Beit 'Ajuhi, in the low hills
east of Lydda. The situation agrees with the context.
(XVII.)

43. Emmaiis, possibly Khamasa. (XVII.)

44. Elfekeh, Joshua xix. 44. Apparently Beit Likia, in
the territory of Dan. In the list of the victories of
Sennacherib (Assyrian Discoveries, pp. 302-305), the
" plains of Eltekeh" are mentioned with towns of Dan.
This agrees with the situation of the modern village.
(XVII.)

45. Enam. Joshua xv. 34. Possibly the ruin '^////;, in the
low hills south-west of Jerusalem. The relative
situation appears satisfactory. The change of N to L
and M to N is not unusual. (XVII.)

46. Engannim (of Judah), Joshua xv. 34. Apparently the
present ruin Uiiim Jhia. The relative situation is
satisfactory. (XVI.) (Clermont Ganneau.)

47. Enhaddah, Joshua xix. 21. Probably the present ruin
Kefr Adan, south-west of the Plain of Esdraelon. The
situation appears probable. (VIII.)

* M. C. Ganneau identified Deir Abau with the Abel of ]!eth
Shemesh. The identification with the Ebenezer of the Ononia^ticon
was firbt suggested by Captain Conder.

APPENDIX IT. 225

48. Eshean, Joshua xv. 52. Possibly the ruin es Shnia,
near Dumah (Domeh), south of Hebron. The situation
is satisfactory, and the site ancient. (XXI.)

49. Esora, Judith iv. 4. Probably the village 'Asireh, north
ofShechem. The situation is suitable. (XI)

50. Etam. 2 Chronicles xi. 6. The present ruin ' Aitun,
south-west of Hebron. The situation agrees with the
context. (XX.)

51. ^/«;« (Rock). Beit'Atab. (XVH.)

52- Ether, Joshua xv. 42. Probably the r\i\neVAtr, near
Beit Jibrin, on the west. The situation appears satis-
factory. (XX.)

53. Gcil/i'ii, I Samuel xxv. 44 ; Isaiah x. 30. Possibly the
village Beit Jala near Bethlehem. (XVII.)

54. Gedera/i, Joshua xv. 36 (mentioned in the Ono-
masticon, s.v. Gedor, as 10 miles from Eleutheropolis,
on the road to Diospolis), the important ruin oijedireh.
The situation appears to agree with the context.
(XVI.)

55. Gederah (of Benjamin), i Chronicles xii. 4. The
present xum/edireh, north of Jerusalem. (XVH.)

56. Gederot/i, Joshua xv. 41. Probably from its situation
the present village Katra/i, near Yebnah, as proposed
also by Colonel Warren, R.E. (XVI.)

57. Gezer, Teil Gezer {C Ga.nne?i.n). (XVI.)

58. Gtbbethon, Joshua xix. 44. Probably the present
village Kibbiah, at the foot of the hills near Lydda. The
situation agrees with the context. (XIV.)

59. Gibea/i, Joshua xviii. 28. The present xumjibia, in
the territory of Benjamin. (XVH.)

60. Gibeah-ha-Elohim, i Samuel x. 5 : and i Samuel xv. 3.
Now Jab' a.

61. Gibeah Phinehas. ^Aivertah. (XII.)

62. Gilead Mount. The name exists in ]V. Jaliid. (IX.)

P

2 26 TWENTY-ONE YEARS WORK.

6z. Cilgal. Theruin of Jiljulieh. (XVIII.)

64. Giloh, Joshua xv. 51. Probably the xmn Jala in the

Hebron Mountains. The situation appears to agree

with the context. (XXI.)
6s. Hac/nlah{li\\\). l^ov.' el A'o/a/i. (XXI.)

66. Hammon, Joshua xix. 28. Apparently the ruin Hima,
south-east of Tyre. The situation appears to be satis-
factor>'. (III.)

67. HannatJwn, Joshua xix. 14. On the boundary of
Zebulon and Naphtali. The present village Kefr 'Anan.
(VI.)

68. Haphraipi, Joshua xix. 14. In the Onomasticon, s.v.,
the village Affarea is placed 6 miles north of Legio {el
Lejjiin) ; this fixes it at the ancient ruined site el
Farnyeh, which appears to be a suitable position for
the Biblical town. (VIII)

69. JIareth, now Kharas. (XXI.)

70. Ha7'od. Yo%%\\i\^''Ai7t el Jemm^am. (IX.)

71. ^flrst'r, Joshua xi. i. i^fl'/zv//, near Robinson's site. (IV.)

72. Hazor, Nehemiah xi. 2)Z- Evidently the ruin Hazzur
north of Jerusalem, (XVII.)

73. Horcm, Joshua xix. 38. Apparently the ruin Harah.
The situation seems possible. (IV.)

74. Hozah, Joshua xix. 29. Apparently the present ruin
Ozziyeh, on the coast south of Tyre. The situation is
satisfactory, and the changes of 'Ain for Kheth and of
Zain for Tzadi, are both recognised. (III.)

75. Ijon ("ruin"), i Kings xv. 20. Possibly Khiydvi, in
the Merj 'Ajiin, west of Banias. The name survives
latter title, but the former may be a corruption and
represent the exact site. (II.)

76. /r/>eel, ]oshua. xviii. 27. Probably the village /^d/dl,
north of Jerusalem. The name is derived from a
similar root, and the situation is satisfactory. (XVII.)

APPENDIX II. 227

77. Jabneel, Joshua xix. 33. A town of Naphtali stated
in the Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah i. i) to have been
called at a later period Caphar Yama. This indicates
ruin Yenuna, and the situation agrees with that of the
other towns in this group. (VI.)

78. Janoah, 2 Kings xv. 29. The present village Yaniih
in the hills south-east of Tyre. The situation appears
satisfactory as within the territory of Naptali. There
is a second YanuJi further south. (11.)

79. Janum, Joshua xv. 53. Probably the village Beni
Nairn, east of Hebron. The situation appears to
agree with the context. (XXI.)

80. Jeshanah, 2 Chronicles xiii. 19. The situation points
to the identification of this site with the ancient village
'Ain Sinia. (XIV.) (Clermont Ganneau.)

81. Jeshtia, Nehemiah xi. 26. Probably the present ruin
Sa7m, east of Beersheba. The situation is relatively
satisfactory. (XXV.)

82. /ethlah, Joshua xix. 42. Probably the ruin Beit Till,
in the low hills west of Jerusalem. The situation
appears probable. (XVII.)

S3. Joktheel, Joshua xv. 38. Belonging to a group of
which little is yet known. Possibly the large ruin
Kntlaneh, south of Gezer. The words are from similar
roots. (XVI.)

84. Kedesh (in Issachar), i Chronicles vi. 72. Possibly
the ancient site Tell Abu Kndeis near Lejjun. (VIII.)

85. Kibzaim, Joshua xxi, 22. The name is radically
identical with that of Tell Abu Kabfis, near Bethel.
The situation is not impossible. (XVII.)

86. Kirjatli, Joshua xviii. 28. The present Kuriet el
'Anab is more generally known to the natives as
Kurieh. The situation agrees well for Kirjath of
Benjamin, but not for Kirjath Jearim. (XVII.)

P 2

228 TWENTY-ONE YEARS WORK'.

87. Kirjathjcarim. Probably 'Erma. (XVII.)

88. Lac/iis/i, Joshua x. 3. (In the Onomasticon, s.v., this
city is placed 7 Roman miles south of Eleutheropolis
B. Jibrin.) 'I'he site of Tell el Hesy nearly agrees
with this, and is more satisfactory than Utii/n Lakis
proposed by Robinson. The identification supposes
the change of Caph to Kheth, of which \ve *have an
accepted instance in the case of Michmash. (XX.)

89. LaJwiam, Joshua xv. 40. Possibly the ruins el Lahiri,
near Beit Jibrin. The situation appears satisfactory,
and the site is ancient. (XX.)

90. Lasharon, Joshua xii. 18. Apparently in Lower
Galilee. Possibly the ruin Saroiia, west of the Sea of
Galilee. Jerome (Onomasticon, s.v.) says that the
plain east of Tabor was called Sharon in his time.

{VI. )

91. Liiz, Judges i. 26. Possibly the ruin Lueizeh, west of
Banias, on the border of the Hittite country. (II.)

92. Maarath, Joshua xv. 59. Probably from its relative
position the present village Beit Ummar {the. Bethamari
of the Onomasticon.) (XXI.)

93. Madjna>niah, Joshua xv. 31. Possibly the ruin U/ntii
Deimnch, north of Beersheba. The situation appears
satisfactory. (XXIV.)

94. Madon, Joshua xi. i. Apparently in Lower Galilee,
perhaps the ruin Madiii close to Hattin. (VI.)

95. Ma/ianeh Dan, near 'Erma. (XVII.)

96. Makkedah, el Mughar (Warren). (XVI.)

97. Manahath, i Chronicles viii. 6. Possibly the village
Malhah, south-west of Jerusalem, which appears to be
the Manocho of Joshua xv. 60 (inserted passage in
LXX). The change of L for N is common.

9S. Maralah, Joshua yS\. 11. According to the descrip-
tion of the boundary of Zebulon, this would occupy

APPENDIX II. 229

about the position of the present village Malid. The

L and R are easily convertible. (VIII.)
99. Mearah, Joshua xiii. 4. Apparently Mogheiriyeh,

north of Sidon.
100. Megiddo, possibly Mujedd'a. (IX.)
loi. Meronoth, i Chronicles xxvii. 30. Possibly the ruin

Marrhia, in the Hebron hills. (XXI.)

102. Mis/ieal^ Joshua xix. 26. Probably the ruin MahMi,
near Acre. The situation is suitable for a town of
Asher. (III.)

103. Mozah, Joshua xviii. 26. According to the Jerusalem
Talmud, was called Kolonia. A ruin> called Beit
Mizzeh exists near Kolonia, west of Jerusalem, in a
suitable situation. (XVII.) (C. F. T. Drake.)

104. iV^d'Wd'//, Joshua XV. 41. Probably iVa'^«^//, south of
Ramleb, as proposed by Colonel Warren, R.E. The
situation is suitable. (XVI.)

105. Nahallal, Joshua xix. 15. According to the Jerusalem
Talmud (Megilla i. i) this place was called, at a later
period, Mahlul. This seems to indicate the village
'Ain Ma/iii, in a suitable position. (VI.)

106. Nebo, Ezra ii. 29. Perhaps NiWa, south of Jerusalem.
(XXI.)

107. iV^7>/ (Han-N'aial), Joshua xix. 27. The ruin Y'anin
is found in the required position. The change in the
position of the guttural and of N for L is not unusual.
(V.)

108. Ah'keb, Joshua xix. 33. The Jerusalem Talmud
(Megilla i. 1) gives the later name of this site as
Siadetha. This points to the ruin Seiyada on the
plateau west of the Sea of Galilee, a position agreeing
with the context. (VI,)

109. Nep/iioa/i, Joshua xv. 9 (a spring). The Talmud of
Babylon (Yoma 31a) identifies this with the Kn Klam,

23D TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

whence an aqueduct led to the Temple. This indicates
'Ain 'Atan, south of Bethlehem. See p. lo. (XVII.)
no. C^/Z/zv?//, Judges vi. ii. Probably Ferata, near Shechem,
the ancient name of which was Ophrah (see Samaritan
Chronicle). (XI.)

111. Piratlio)i, Judges xij. 15, and Pharathoni (i Mace. ix.
50). Possibly Fe'ron, west of Shechem. The loss of
the T is not unusual, and the present name retains the
guttural. (XI.)

112. Rahbah, Joshua xv. 60. Possibly the ruin Rjibba, west
ofBeit Jibrin. (XXL)

113. Rabbith, Joshua xix. 20. The present village 7?<7/^«,
south-east of the plain of Esdraelon, appears to be in a
suitable position. (XII.)

114. Rakkon ("shore") Joshua xix. 46. The situation of
Tell er Rakkeit aj^jjears suitable, north of Jaffa, near
the mouth of the river Aujeh (probably Mejarkon).
(XIII.)

115. 6)2^/^, Joshua xix. 10. The Syriac version reads Asdod,
and the LXX reads Sadouk (Vat. MS.). The original
may be thought to have been Sadid, in which case Tell
Sliadud occupies a very probable position for this site
(compare Maralah). (VI IJ.)

116. 6'^cfl'ra//, Joshua XV. 61. In the Judean desert. Possibly
the ruin S/kkf/i, east of Bethany. (XVII.)

117. Scchu, ^rohsXAy Suzueckeh. (XVII.)

118. ^V;/t'// (Rock), IVady Suwciiut. (XVII.)

119. S/iaaraim, Joshua xv. 36. The rmn St aire k, west oi
Jerusalem, occupies a suitable position. (XVIJ.)

120. Skai/iir, Joshua xv. 48. Probably the ruin 6ir5;//<'r(7//,
west of Uhaheriyeh, the situation being suitable to the
context. (XXIV.)

121. Skartiken, ]os\\\\:{ xix. 6. Vroh7vh\y Tell esh Skert^ak.
The position is suitable, and the conversion of the

APPENDIX 11. 231

guttural Kheth to 'Ain is of constant occurrence, as is

also the loss of the final N. (XXIV.)
122. Sorek (Valley). The name 6'//'r//C' was found applying

to a ruin north of this valley, as mentioned in the Ono-

masticon. (XVII.)
I 23. Thininatha., Joshua xix. 43. Generally identified with

Timnah of Judah, appears more probably to be Tibneh,

north-east of Lydda, on the border of Dan. (XIV.)

124. Timnath Ueres, K.q{x Yla.ri'a. (XIV.)

125. Tiphs/iah,i:ak.Si\\. (XIV).

126. Tirzah, Teiasir. (XII.)

127. Umniah, Joshua xix. 30. The ruin 'Alma occupies a
suitable position in the territory of Asher. The L
represents the Hebrew M and the guttural is preserved.
(HI.)

128. Uzzen S/ierah, i Chronicles vii. 24. Mentioned with
Bethhoron. Possibly Beit Sira, south-west of the site
ofBethhoron. (XVII.)

129. Zrt'rt'/zrt'//;/, Bessum. (VI.)

130. Zartanah, i Kings iv. 12. Mentioned as "beneath
Jezreel." Probably the large site of Tell Sdretn, near
Beisan, (IX.)

131. Zereda, i Kings xi. 26. In Mount Ephraim. Probably
the present Surdeh, west of Bethel. (XIV.)

132. Z/2; (Ha Ziz) (ascent of), 2 Chronicles XX. 16. Probably,
connected with the name Hazezon Tamar, for Engedi,
Genesis xiv. 7 ; 2 Chronicles xx. 2. The name Hasasali
was found to apply to the plateau north-west of Engedi.
(XXII.)

This list contains 132 names. Out of about 620 topo-
graphical names mentioned in the Bible in Western Palestine,
about 430 have now been identified (or about two-thirds).
Out of these 430 a total of 132, as above shown (or about a
third), are thus due to the survey.

232 TWENTY-ONE YEARS' WORK.

On the other hand, out of about 200 names of the places
in the Sinaitic Desert, or in the country east of Jordan, 70
only are known, including the latest identifications of the
American survey and of Lieutenant Conder (Handbook to
the Bible), being a proportion of little over one-third. Many
important sites, such as Mahanaim, Jabesh Gilead, &c.,
remain still to be recovered east of Jordan.

In addition to this list published in 1880, several new
identifications by Captain Conder will be found in the later
Quarterly Statements, and those of the Eastern Survey are
given in " Heth and Moab."

INDEX.

Abana River, 136.

Abel Meholah, 112.

Abdeh (Eboda), 71.

Acra, 49.

Acre, Plain of, 84.

Adasa, 119.

Admeh (ed Damieh), 82, loi.

Adullam, 106, 118, ijo.

^non, 120, 121.

Ai, 99.

'Ain Abu Beweireh, 144.

'Ain Feshkhah, 92.

'Ain el Haramlyeh, 119.

'Ain Hawarah, 145.

'Ain Hudherah, 66.

'Ain el Jem'ain, 1 14.

'Ain Tabighah, 44.

'Ain et Tin, 44.

Akabah and Gulf, 142-145.

Alemoth (Alnion), 118.

Amman (Sassanian Building), 17S,

183, 184, 199.
Ancient Monuments, 138.
Antonia, Tower of, 49.
Ansierlyeh Mountains, 152.
Antipatris, 86, 120, 123.
Annath (Aina), 123.
Aqueduct (the great tunnel from the

spring to the Pool of Silciam), 158.
Arak el Emir, 136, 138, 199.
Archi (Arik), 1 11.
Argob or Trachonitis (el Lejah), 134.
Armitheaa, 80.
Arnon River, 135.
Aroer, 135.
Aroer of Judah, 70.
Arunalha or Ilanruta, 155.
Ascension, Site of, 63.
Ashdod, 119.

Ataroth Adan (ed Damieh), in.
Athlit, 199.
el Augeh, 71.
Auvanitis (Ilauran), 134.

Avim, 80.

el Awamid (Inscription at), 40.
'Ayun Abu Meharib, 91.
Azazimeh, Mountains of, 72.

Baal, Altars of, 65.

Baal Meon, 139.

Baal Peor, 137.

Baalbek, and church at, ^^, 45.

Bab el Burak, 45.

Baheiret Homs, 153.

Baheiret Koteineh, 153.

Bahurim, 118.

Bamoth Baal, 137.

Banias, 39, 40.

Baris, Tower of, 158.

Bashan, Land of, 134.

Basilica of the Antastasis, 160.

Batanrea, 135.

Beersheba, 69, 70, 102, 103, 104.

Beisau, 39, 115.

Beibin, Church at, 39.

Beit Jibrin, Church at, 39.

Berea (Bireh), 119.

Bethany, ii8.

Bethel, loO.

Bethabara, 94, 95, 96, 97, 112. 120,

121.
Bethaven, 100.
Bethulia, 119.
Beth Dagon, 107.
Bethlehem, 99.

Bethphnge, Stone of, 132, 177, 178.
Beth Rima, 123.
Bethsaida, 121, 135.
Berzetho (Bir ez Zeit), 119.
Beyrout, 39.
Bezek, 115.
Bezetha, Vase of, 132.
Biblical Names, 80.
Bir Eyub, 160, 166.
Bireh, Cluirch at, 39.
Birket Mamilla, 160,

234

IXDEX.

Birket Israil, 159.
Birket es Sultan, 160.
Bitzaanaim near Kedesh, 82, 84.
Borceos (Berkit), 123.
Boundaries, Tribal, iio.
Bozez, Cliff of, 1 16.
Bozrah, 136.
Brook Besor, So.
Brook Cherith, 80.

Caesarea, 39, 199.
Ccesarea Phillippi, 135.
Ca'.lirrhoe, 136.
Calvary, 120, 123.
Cana of Galilee, 96, 120.
Capernaum (near Athlit), 89.
Capernaum (Tell Hum), 99, 120,

122.
Caphar Saba, 87.
Cherith, Brook, 93.
Chorazin (Kerazeh), 41, 42.
Cities of the Plain, 91, loi.
Constantine's Basilica, 50.
Constantine's Church of the Anas-

tasis, 49, 53.
Cotton Clrotto, 158.
Crocodile River, 98.

Damascus, 40, 44, 135.

Datreiyeh, 71.

David,' Tower of, 59, 159, 205.

Debbet er Ramleh, 142.

Debir, 71, 106, in.

Deir Aban, 115.

Deir el Kal'ah, Temple at, 40.

Dibcn and the Moabite Stone, 135,

136, 160-165.
Dog River, 152.
Dome of the Rock, 49, 53, 59, 63,

160.
Double Gate, 57, 59, 160.

Kdom, 72.
Elah, 116.
Elealah, 139.
Elcasa (Hasa), 119.
Kleph, 80.

Kleutherus River, 152.
hlusa (Khalasah), 70.
Emmaus, 120, 121.
Emniaus Nicopolis, 120.

Endor, 84.

En Ilarod, 112.

En Rogel, 166.

Esek, Well of, 70, I02, 104.

Eshcol, 66, 80.

Eshtaol, 1 14.

Etam, Rock, 89.

Ezcl, The Stone, 80.

Gadara, 135.

Galilee, Lake or Sea of, 76, 82, 98,

122.
Galilee, Upper, 82, 84.
Galilee, Synagogues and Chronicles

of, 47, 79-
Gate Beautiful, The, 49.
Gate Gennath, 45, 49, 160.
(}ates of the Walls, 49.
Gath, 80, 116, 125.
Gaza Jupiter, 170-173.
Gederoth, 107.
Genesareth, Lake of, 39, 43.
Gerar, 102, 104.
Gethsemane, 80.
Gezer, 106, 173, 177.
Ghor, The, 143, 144, 146.
Ghor es Seiseban, loi, 185.
Gibeah, 99.
Gibeah Phinehas, loS.
Gibeah of Saul, 116.
Gilboa, Mount, 114.
Gilead, Land of, 135.
Gilead, Mount, 112, 115.
Gilgal (Jiljidieh), 106.
Golan (Jaulan), 134.
Golden Gate, 160.
Golgotha, Tomb near, 186 192, 2(2.
Clomorrah, 92.
(Ireat Plain, 82.
(iulf of Suez, 146.

Hachilah, 116, 118.
Hagar's Well, 66.
Haifa, 78.

Hamath Inscriptions, 178.
Haradah, 66.

Haram esh Sherif (site of Temple),
49. 5o> 52, 53. 55. 57. 59, 60, 62.
Hareth, 116.
Harosheth, 84.
Harran, 40.

INDEX.

235

Hauran, 147, 148.

Hazor, 106.

Hazeroth, 65.

Head of Hadrian, 170.

Hebron, 39, 54, 66, 99, 102.

Herod's Temple and Greek Inscrijj-

tion, 45, 132.
Herodian Temple, 45.
Heshbon, 135, 139, 183.
Hezekiah's Pool, 159.
Hippicus, Tower of, 49.
Holy Sepulchre (Tomb belnw), 59.
Holy Sepulchre, Church of the, 49,

50, 206.
Holy Sepulchre, Site of, 62, 63.
Holy Fire, 54.
Horns, 1 52-1 55-
Hora, 71.
Huleh, Lake of, 147, 148.

Ibzik (Bezek), 81.
Irbid, Synagogue at,
Iturrea, 134.

41.

Jabbok River, 39, 136, 1 84.

Jacob's Well, 54, 99, 121, 192-197.

Jahaz, 135.

jaulan, 147.

jazer, 137.

Jebel es Somrah, 144.

Jebel Usdum, 148.

Jericho, 91.

Jerusalem, 39, 45, 59, 69.

Jezreel, 112, 115, 118.

Jishuh, 87.

Jordan, 39.

Jordan, Fords of the, 95, 97.

Jordon Valley, 143, 147, 14S.

Joshua's Tomb, 107.

Kadesh Barnea, 66, 67, 6^.
Kadesh of the Hittites, 136, 150 156.
Kanah, lirook. III.
Kal'at Jalud, 59.
Karkor, 112.

Kasyum, Inscription at, 40.
Kades, Temple at, Inscription and
Excavation, 40, 45, 82.

Kefr Haris, 107.

Kefr Birim, Inscription and Syna

gogue, 40, 41.
Kepharnome, 44.
Kerak, 72, 136.
Kedron Valley, 166.
Khan Minyeh, 44.
Khersa (Gergesa), 44.
Kibroth Hattaavah, 65.
Kir Haraseth, 135.
Kirjath Jearim, no, 114, 115.
Kishon River, 84.
Kubbet es Sahkra, 62.
Kurmel, 71-
Kuryet el Anab, Church at, 39.

Lacus Serbonicus, 150.
Lebanon, 150, 152.
Leben (Curdled Milk),
Llsan, 72.

Luhith, Ascent of, 137,
Lydda, Church at, 39.

85-

Machoerus, 136.

Mahanneh Dan, 1 14.

Main, 71.

Makkedah, 106.

Mamre, 80.

Maon, 118.

el Mereighat, 185.

Marianme, Tower of, 49.

Masada, 199.

ALashita, 136.

Masi, Inscription at, 40.

Medeba, 139.

Megiddo, 84, 119.

Mejarkon, 87.

Mejdel Anjar, Temple at, 40.

Michmash, 99, lOO.

Millo, 49.

Minnilh, 137, 184.

Minyeh, 122.

Moab, 72, 135.

Modin, 119, 132.

Mokattani Hills (above Cairo), 145.

Monuments in the Kedron N'alle),

158-
Mosque el Aksa, 160.

Mount Azotus, 1 19.

236

INDEX.

Mount Gerizim (Church of Justinian),

39, 45-

Mount Hor, 72, 143.

Mount Nebo, 184.

Mount Zion, 59.

el Muntar (Izuk, scene of the scape-
goat, 104.

Naamah, 107.

Nabhis, Mosque and Inscription at,
46.

Nagb es Sahii, 142.

Nahr el Kelb, Tablets of Sennac-
herib, 40, 41.

Nawamls, 64.

Nazareth, 91.

Nebo, 139.

Nebratein, Inscription at, 40, 41.

Neby Hazkln (Ezekiel's Mountain),
81.

Neby Serakah, 87.

Negeb of Jerahmeel, 71.

Negeb or South Country, 71, 72.

Nephtoah, Waters of, 100.

Nicodenuis, Tomb of, 15S.

Nob, 80, 116.

Nobah, 112.

Ophel, Wall of, 58, 158.
Orontes, 151, 153.

Patris (Budrus), 87.
Pennel, 112.
Tetra, 72, 142, 199.
I'harphar River, 136.
I'hasaclus, Tower of, 49.
Pisgah, 139.

Psephinus, Tower of, 49.
Pool of Bethesda, 49.
Pool of Bathsheba, 160.

Uabbath Ammon, 136, I 38.

Rabbath Moab, 135.

Rabbith, in.

Rachel's Tomb, 54.

Ramath Lehi, 91.

Ramoth (lilead, 135.

Ras el Ain, 87, 88.

Red Sea, 45.

Rehoboth, Wells of, 70, 102.

Riblah, 15-5.

Robinson's Arch, 190.

Round P'ountain, 44.

Ruad, Island of, 150, 152.

Rude Stone Monuments, 183- 1 86.

es Safieh, 144.

Sahm or Salem, 121.

Salt Sea, or Dead Sea, loi, 142,

144, 146, 148.
Samaria, 119, 123.
Samaritans, Holy Place or Rock of

the, 39, 45.
Samaritans, Pentateuch, 45.
Samaritan Temple. 45.
Samrat Fiddan, 148.
Sebastiyeh (Samaria), 39.
Sechu, 116.

Second Wall, 59, 63, 205, 2IO.
Sela-ham Mahlekoth, 116.
Seneh, Cliff of, 115, 116.
Sharon, Plain of, 86.
Shechem, 99, 115.
Sibmah, 137.
Siloam, Vill of, 165.
Siloam, Pool and Inscription of,

160, 166, 169, 170.
Sinai, Peninsula of, 64, 68.
.Sinnabris, 122.
Sitnah, Well of, 99.
Sirah, Well of, 99.
Sisera, Flight of, 82.
Solomon's Palace, 59.
Solomon's Stables, 57, 160.
Sorek, Valley of, 115.
Stone of Bohan, 129.
Succoth, loi, 112.
Survey of Western Palestine, 47, 55,

73-
Sychar, 120-122.

Taanach, 84.

Tabbath, 1 12.

Tabor, Mount, 82, 84.

Tarichea (Kerak), 122.

Telaslr, 118, 1 19.

Tell Arad, 71.

Tell el Ful, 1 16.

Tell Hum, 41, 42, 43, 47.

Tell Neby Mendeh, 154, 155.

Tell Salhiyeh (Inscription*, 40, 44.

Tell Zif, 71.

INDEX.

237

Temple, Inscribed Stone of the,

167-

Wady Hamr, 145,

169.

Wady Hesban, 183, 185.

Temple Walls, 159.

Wady el Hessi, 142.

Till, Desert of the, 64, 142.

Wady Jideid, 1S4,

Tiphsah, 119, 120.

Wady Kefrein, 185.

Tirzah, Royal City. 81, 82.

Wady Madarah, 71.

Tombs of the Judges, 159.

Wady Marreh, 71.

Tombs of the Kings, 158.

Wady Musa, 142.

Tripoli, 152.

Wady Muweileh, 65.

Tyre, 199.

Wady Nasb, 141, 142.

Tyropceon Valley, 49, 52, 58.

Wady Rubadiyeh, 43, 44.
Wady Rukhmeh, 71.

Umm el Am^^d, 41.

Wady Semakh, 44.
Wady esh Seikh, 145.

Valley of Achor (Kelb Valley),

93-

Wady Sitte Miriam, 166.

Valley of Jezreel (Wady Jalin),

112,

Wady Solaf, 145.

114.

Wady Surar, 39.

Vase of the Temple, 197, 198.

Wady Watiyeh, 145.

Virgin Fountain, 160, 165, 166

Wady Zelegah, 142.
Wady Zerka M"ain, 1S4.

Wady el Abyadh, 71.

Wady Amarah, 145.

Yakhmor (Roebuck), 105.

Wady Amud, 43.

Yarun, Church and Inscription

at,

Wady el Arabah, Survey of,

141-

39-

145-

Yekin (Cain), 102.

Wady Biyar, 142.

Wady Eyub, 166.

Zamira (es Sumra), 152.

Wady Far' ah, 121.

Zeboim, 92.

Wady Faynn, 67.

Zephath, 69, 70.

Wady Feiran, 145.

Zererath, 112.

Wady Fer'aun (I'haraoh's Va

ley),

Ziklag, 80, 116.

166.

Ziph, The Wood of, 116.

Wady Fik, 44.

Zoar, loi.

Wady Gharandel, 145.

Zoheleth Stone, 165.

Wady Goweisah, 145.

Zophim, Field of, 137.

Wady Hamman, 43, 44.

Zoreah, 114.

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